Posted on February, 5, 2019 at 09:36 am
By Mercy Milanoi
The Government’s constant shifting of goal posts in regard to issues affecting maize farmers, particularly in the North Rift, the country’s bread basket, is not reassuring.
Protests and cries by maize farmers have been loud, attracting the attention of President Uhuru Kenyatta, who at one time publicly scolded Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri in a rare show of his frustrations over corruption in the sector.
He once again intervened last month, directing Agriculture ministry to start buying maize from farmers at Sh2,500 per bag, Sh200 over what the Cabinet approved on November 22 last year.
While farmers were happy after the directive that at least they got something to cushion them, recent announcements on maize delivery to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and subsidised fertiliser have left them feeling like they are back to square one.
Farmers are not only facing a quota system where NCPB is only buying two million bags of maize from them but also a year where the government will not import subsidised fertiliser.
Strategic Food Reserves (SFR) Fund chairman Noah Wekesa has said although the government had imported fertiliser over the years, this time it will not be possible because of challenges in procurement.
“This year it will not be possible for the government to bring in the subsidised fertiliser and farmers should now be prepared to buy it from other sources in the open market,” he said. Experts say the input is likely to go up by more than 200 per cent in the open market.
The about-turns in matters maize has left farmers sad and wiping tears of sadness by dashed hopes that had been raised by the President even though it was not the price they were asking for.
Uhuru’s directive brought a sigh relief for maize farmers after much uproar over the price set by SFR which was lower as compared to the buying price for 2017/2018 harvest of Sh3,200. Just when farmers were about to make their sale with hopes of reaping their much-expected profits, the SFR announced that the two million bags will be purchased across 12 maize growing counties.
These are Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, Migori, Nakuru, West Pokot, Narok, Laikipia, Kericho, Nyandarua, Kakamega, Elgeyo Marakwet and Nandi, meaning farmers may not sell as much as they had expected.
SFR says out of an estimated 5, 574,000 bags of maize harvest only 328,610 bags of maize will be purchased in Uasin Gishu county .
Trans Nzioa county had an estimated 5,597,000 bags of maize, 329,996 bags will be purchased, in Elgeyo Marakwet, out of an estimated 1,210,000 bags only 71,334 bags will be purchased, in Kakamega, out of 2,013,000 produced, only 118,675 bags will be purchased .
A farmer in Uasin Gishu county said they have heard that they will be organised according to regions and even villages.“However, going by this, in our area there are 30 villages and in this area you find a farmer with the least produce of 30 bags, how will this work out, what will we be selling?” he posed.
Relief food
“We went to AFC (Agricultural Finance Corporation), got loans so that we produce our crops, now what they are buying is too little, are we doing business or are we farming for relief food. If they want relief food we can distribute per village but you cannot say you are buying 30 bags per village, it is not realistic,” added another farmer in Eldoret.
As farmers ponder on where to take their produce, the government dropped another bombshell that it will not import fertiliser. A 50kg bag of fertiliser retails at Sh3,000 in major stores while the government’s subsidised fertiliser retails at Sh1,500.
Agriculture Chief Administrative Secretary Andrew Tuimur said currently contracts and the people involved in importation are under investigations by Director of Criminal Investigations and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
“We had a contract that was running for three years which was lapsing on January 11 but before we could utilise the contract to buy fertiliser for this year, Attorney General raised a number of issues on the contract together with the DCI which has pulled us back as those issues need to be addressed first,” added.
Investigations are part of the recommendations by the Public Accounts Committee on the Report on the Examination of the report of the Auditor General on the Financial Statements for the National Government for the year ended June 30, 2015
The committee recommended that DCI and EACC should, within three months of tabling of the report, investigate payment of Sh2.13 billion) to NCPB to determine if public money was utilised for the intended purpose and total money realised from the purported sale of subsidised fertiliser to farmers by the government and allow for prosecution, if evidence permits.
This comes as the report revealed that on NCPB’s financial statements there is a figure of Sh3.74 billion in respect of acquisition of strategic stocks and commodities, which include an amount of Sh2.13 billion, paid to NCPB as subsidy for purchase of fertiliser to be sold to farmers.
“However, apart from an invoice and a schedule raised by NCPB, no verifiable documents have been produced to confirm the actual quantity of fertiliser bought and receipted by NCPB, the quantity sold to farmers and the purchase and selling prices.
Consequently, the propriety of the Sh2.13 billion expenditures on subsidised fertiliser charged to public funds could not be ascertained” the PAC report says .
Secondly there were issues on procurement that arose on allocation of tenders for the importation of fertiliser where DCI and EACC are expected to investigate how the tenders were awarded, the report adds.
Evaluated bidder
The committee also recommended that DCI and EACC should, within three months after adoption of the report, investigate the award of the contract to the second lowest evaluated bidder resulting into loss of Sh126.9 million, being the difference between the amount paid to the second lowest evaluated bidder and the amount that would have been paid to the lowest bidder, and allow for prosecution, if evidence permits.
“Until these and other related issues are addressed, chances of having subsidised fertiliser is minimal,” Tuimur said. sThe recent events have also caught the eyes of stakeholders in the agricultural sector who have recommended that maybe it is time to restructure the maize sub-sector.
Yazan Elhadi, Agriculture and Resource Economist says circle has always been the same every year where farmers camp at NCPB depots to sell their produce and yet no structure is in place that can guide the government and farmers on what to plant and the quantities required.
“ We need to do early planning where the government is able to know the needs in the market and have data on the quantities they need. This way they can advise farmers on what to plant and this can give farmers an opportunity to explore options ,” he adds.
Source: MediaMax Network