Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has asked farmers to start making plans to sell their maize before the government starts importing.
The Cabinet in November 2022 halted plans to import maize, and resolved that farmers will be given priority.
However, it was agreed that duty-free maize importation will start from February 2023, in a bid to bridge an anticipated deficit of the product locally.
“The importation by the private sector will commence in February 2023 and it shall be incentivized by way of a customs duty waiver,” read a cabinet dispatch dated November 30, 2022.
It is estimated that around 30 million bags of maize will be harvested by farmers across the country this year, falling short by 15 million of the total 45 million bags yielded annually during normal seasons.
Good prices
But about two months before the importation period starts, the Nandi Senator now wants farmers to take advantage of the current good prices and sell their maize.
Currently, a bag of 90-kilogram maize goes for as low as Ksh5,000 – the highest price ever to be witnessed during harvesting season.
“I continue to ask our maize farmers to harvest, process and sell their maize before the duty-free maize importation period starts in February to August 2023. The prices are over 5000/ per maize bag,” Cheragei said in a tweet on December 15, 2022.
Most of the farmers in the North Rift region, the country’s food basket, have already harvested their maize.
With the government not purchasing maize through the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), the farmers are now depending on millers and middlemen to purchase their produce.
Once the importation period starts, the government will allow millers to import 900,000 tons of white maize grain and 600,000 tons of milled rice.
The government through public notice by the State Department of Crop Development Principal Secretary says the importation will enable the country to have adequate stocks to last until the next harvesting season – July-August 2023.
