It has been almost a week since the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi visited the North Rift Region where he launched 100 maize dryers that were to be availed to farmers.
The dryers were meant to help farmers in drying their produce; especially at this time the region is experiencing rainfall that has been associated with the El-Nino phenomenon.
Of concern, however, is that so far, farmers are still using the conventional method of open-field drying.
According to David Kiprono, the North Rift Farmers’ Cooperative Union executive chairman, the dryers are yet to be made available.
In an interview with Uasin Gishu News, Kiprono said those that CS Linturi launched at the Eldoret National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and later presented to farmers in Ziwa for a demonstration on how they work were merely for the launching purposes.
“Farmers are still waiting. The dryers were just being launched but we have been told the ones to be used for drying are yet to be received on the ground,” he said on Tuesday.
Kiprono who is also a farmer in Uasin Gishu warned that should there be a delay in the delivery of the facilities, farmers might be forced to go back to sundrying.
He also noted that the dryers will only be of value within the next few weeks, after which farmers will have use of them.
“The drying period is limited to only two months. If these machines will not have arrived by December 15, farmers will go the natural way and it will be of no value,” Kiprono said.
“It is important that when the Ministry has budgeted for the machines, let them be available. By February 2024, the dryers will be of no value to the farmer,” he added.
The government said they procured the over 100 dryers in part of an effort meant to address the post-harvest losses that farmers experience due to lack of proper drying facilities.
