Nairobi: The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) will mop up 321,000 bags of wheat still being held by farmers to address the market crisis. Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary, Mutahi Kagwe, today directed all farmers and aggregators to deliver their stock to NCPB starting tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.
According to Kenya News Agency, the CS also announced that payments to farmers will take place within 30 days after delivery to the warehouses across the country, which will be done by NCPB. In a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed today between the NCPB and millers, the wheat from the NCPB will be collected by millers and payment done within 14 to 21 days, Kagwe noted.
Kagwe, in addition, issued a stern warning to individuals bent on hijacking the resolutions to address the crisis by delivering imported wheat to the NCPB, adding they will be arrested for sabotaging the process. The CS spoke after a meeting to address challenges faced by wheat farmers at his Kilimo House office, attended by Agriculture Principal Secretary Dr. Paul Ronoh, NCPB MD Samuel Karogo, Agriculture and Food Authority Director General Dr. Bruno Linyiru, Agriculture Secretary Collins Marangu, the Agricultural Cereals Millers Association (CMA), led by the Chief Executive Officer, Paloma Fernandez and vice chair Beju Shah and also the Cereals Growers Association (CGA), led by its CEO Anthony Kioko.
During the meeting, Kagwe expressed his intentions to reduce the importation of wheat by ensuring local farmers produce enough wheat to meet demand by millers from the current 8 per cent to above 40 per cent. The move to have NCPB collect wheat from farmers, the CS noted, will be able to give a database that will be used to issue subsidised fertiliser, which will further reduce the cost of production and hence ensure more profits for local farmers.