Posted on November, 9, 2016 at 10:34 am
A NEW REVOLVING fund created for the Strategic Food Reserve will be used to purchase grains from the local farmers.
The parliamentary committee on agriculture chairperson Adan Noor said there should be no cause for alarm over where the money for the kitty will be sourced from as the revenue generated from old stocks will be supplemented by the Shl.6 billion allocated in this year's budget.
"People should not be worried about the money. The funds will not come from the National Treasury /exchequer (or through parliament's approval), it will be from this revolving fund," he said. serve to cover milk, c9nned meat, among other agricultural produce, to ensure food security.
The National Cereals and Produce Board was allocated Sh3.4 billion in 2013/2014, Sh2.7 billion in 2014/2015 and Shl.6 billion this current financial year in the National Budget.
Deputy President William Ruta while touring Eldoret announced that the government will spend Sh6 billion to buy farm produce from the local grain growers. He said the government had increased maize prices to Sh3,000 up from Sh2,300 per 90 kilogrammes bag.
Earlier, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett had said NCPB would buy the maize at Sh2,800 per kilogramme and wheat at Sh3,000. The price increase came as a relief to farmers who had protested over the low prices offered by the cereals board. They said the returns were lower considering the high cost of production at farm level.
During the protests, growers asked the board to buy maize at Sh3,000 up from Sh2,300 per 90 kilogramme and wheat at Sh3,200 kilogramme.
"The government cannot act as the market 100 per cent. I think it is time farmers also understand that they need to look for alternative markets. We agree that the strategic food reserve acts as price stabiliser but what happens when this stretches its limit?" Mr Noor posed. Kenya is seeking to increase the number of bags from 700,000 to over four million bags replenish its stocks.
Source: Daily Nation Newspaper / Tuesday November 8, 2016 / Investment / Smart Company /Page 3