RATIN

Traders told to bid for Galana maize by December 22

Posted on December, 16, 2020 at 04:08 pm


Maize millers and traders have until December 22 to place bids for a consignment of 4,500 bags on sale at the government’s Galana Kulalu farm stores.
 
The National Irrigation Authority(NIA) has advertised the sale and said the consignment packed in 50 kilogramme bags will be sold to the highest bidder in whole or part.
 
The sale by NIA follows a similar one in July when the authority sold 30,000 bags of maize.
 
The farmgate prices of maize has in recent days gone up by about 11 percent to Sh2,000 per 90-kilogramme bag, which might inform the bidding rates by interested buyers of the Galana crop.
 
This is an improvement from the initial Sh1,800 offered to the growers who have been withholding the staple crop in their stores hoping for better prices.
 
The price of Sh2,000 is, however, still lower than the recommended price of Sh3,200 the Ministry of Agriculture was directed to enforce by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Galana model farm, which covers 10,000 acres, traverses Kilifi and Tana River counties, and was being run by Israel’s Green Arava before their contract was cancelled and issued to a new contractor by the NIA.
 
The dispute between the irrigation agency and Green Arava arose from the amount that the contractor claimed to be owed by NIA, which says that it’s far higher than the actual figure.
 
The contractor claimed that NIA owed them Sh1 billion but the agency claimed it owed the contractor Sh200 million.
 
The Galana project was supposed to have been opened up for large scale production under the Private Public Partnership by now as the model farm, which is a demonstration block that covers 10,000 acres was to be completed by 2018. About 7,000 acres have been cultivated to date with 3,000 acres put under crop last year.
 
NIA says production of the current season is ongoing with 5,100 acres expected to be put under crop by April next year.
 
Source: Business Daily