Posted on June, 24, 2016 at 09:42 am
The alarm of a biting maize shortage sounded by the cereal millers lobby once again raises concerns about the management of the country’s food reserves.
Last April, the Treasury announced the establishment of a Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund to help stabilise supply and prices.
The expectation was that the Sh2.2 billion fund would reduce the over-reliance on the unreliable and inefficient food reserve system managed by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
That the Cereal Millers Association (CMA) has come out to make the same old lamentations about maize shortage and inevitably link it to recent rises in unga prices suggests that the dysfunctional system hasn’t been fixed.
The government’s attitude towards what is potentially both a grave food security and national security situation doesn’t seem to have changed either.
It has resorted to its default response, insisting last week that the country had enough stocks and accusing the millers of manipulating prices.
The majority of households who have to spend more to put their staple food on the table or go without it look to the government for solutions, not blame games.
If the government has evidence that the millers are up to some mischief, nothing stops it from unleashing its regulatory powers to rein them in.
Source: Business Daily Africa