Posted on August, 22, 2017 at 10:50 am
Farmers in south and north rift regions want the government to suspend maize imports because they would depress producer prices as the harvesting season gets underway.
Farmers who spoke to People Daily yesterday said they had started harvesting and their produce was fetching poor prices of Sh2,300 per 90 kg bag because government subsidised imports was in the market.
In June the same quantity of maize was going for Sh4,500. “Subsidised imports are affecting producer prices and they should be suspended to safeguard prices,” said Lekina Kameto, a Cereal Growers Association official in South Rift.
He said the Agriculture ministry should have done an assessment on how many bags farmers expect to harvest before more imports are made, adding that futher flooding the market with subsidised maize flour (unga) would depress prices until January next year.
In October, when all farmers would have finished harvesting it is expected there would be enough maize in the market, hence need to suspend imports.
“After all farmers have harvested, the government should suspend imports ,” he said. Last week, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett said the Government will import three more million bags of white maize under the subsidised programme to feed the country upto the end of September. – Peter Leshan
Source: MediaMax Network