Kibiwott Koross
14 July 2008
Nairobi — A Sh1 billion outstanding bill owed to farmers by the National Cereals and Produce Board has made farmers shy away from delivering more maize to the board.
For NCPB to increase grain deliveries, the board needs to clear this balance as a matter of urgency, the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Lands and Natural Resources has said.
After a visit to the NCPB silo complex in Nairobi, the MPs expressed concern that while NCPB had the capacity of storing more than 20 million bags of maize in its more than 110 outlets countrywide, many parts of the country were languishing in hunger. During their visit, the MPs wanted to know the operations of the board in relation to the country's food security situation, adding that Kenya had enough maize to feed its citizens.
The committee, chaired by Naivasha MP John Mututho, said it was not necessary to import maize when the country had the potential of supplementing its food demands.
Mr Mututho said farmers had shied away from delivering their produce because of the delayed payments.
He said the committee would send a request to the offices of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Special Programmes and the Treasury to finance NCPB so that it can purchase locally produced grains in order to ensure that there would be sufficient reserves for the country.
The MP said the committee would push for the allocation of Sh3.4 billion to the board by the end of July this year so that it could be able to purchase locally produced grains.
Eldoret East MP Peris Simam called on the cereals board to buy the produce without discriminating farmers. She said small-scale farmers had for a long time been neglected by the board.
"Small scale farmers have been neglected at the expense of those who produce in large scale," she said. "You should buy on a first-come, first-served basis to encourage the farmers."
Machakos Town MP Victor Mayaka said it was unfortunate that most parts of the country had been hit by food shortage while some areas had surplus food reserves.
He said NCPB had the responsibility of buying more farm produce especially maize because it acts as a food bank to the Government.
The committee ruled out importing maize saying it would be expensive to the local consumers. They said the issue was not shortage of food reserves but lack of finance by the board to stock more maize.
They asked farmers to continue supplying their produce to the board saying the price was not going to be below Sh1,700 as put by the Agriculture minister.
Others who were present were MPs Kembi Kazungu (Kaloleni),Benjamin Washachi (Mumias) and NCPB's operations manager Robert Langat.
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