The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has put in place a raft of safety measures that maize farmers must meet as they deliver their produce to their depots.
The majority of the farmers whose maize harvest failed to meet the required standards were turned away at various depots in the North Rift region.
The stringent measures set by the state agency have caused a hue and cry from hundreds of grain farmers who have pleaded with the government to intervene in their plight and save them from exploitation by the middlemen.
Led by their spokesperson Kimutai Kolum they said that many farmers were being turned away at NCPB depots over claims that their maize was laced with high moisture content.
Speaking to the media in Eldoret, Kolum said that out of 30 lorry drivers who had lined up at the Eldoret’s NCPB depot on Friday to deliver maize, only three lorries were cleared to offload their produce.
Kolum said the rest were turned away after it emerged that the consignment of 90kg bags of maize was laced with high moisture content which failed to meet the required standards set by the government.
“Hundreds of farmers from the maize growing areas of the North Rift region will not be able to meet the required standards and that is why we are appealing to the government to relax some of the conditions to enable them to deliver their produce,” he added.
He complained that small-scale farmers who had opted to deliver their produce to the cereals board were bound to suffer double tragedy owing to heavy rains pounding the region.
“We are appealing to the government to look into some of the stringent measures that have been put in place by NCPB’ because they are unachievable and will lock out many of the farmers accessing the silos,” Kolum said.
However, the NCPB North Rift regional manager Gilbert Rotich explained that the stringent measures the government had put in place were meant to ensure all the maize produced and delivered at its depots was of high quality.
“We want to avoid a situation where the maize that is being delivered to our silos is of low quality due to improper storage and handling by the farmers,” Rotich said.
He reiterated that the maize they receive from farmers goes through rigorous quality checks for the safety of the consumers.
Source: The Star