Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago has called upon the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries to issue a comprehensive statement on the status of wheat purchases from Kenyan farmers.
In a request presented in the Senate on his behalf by Senator Raphael Chimera, Mandago is seeking detailed information on wheat millers and their agreements with local farmers.
He has asked the committee to provide a list of all licensed wheat millers in the country and table the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Cereal Growers Association and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Additionally, he wants details on the price paid per bag of wheat in the year 2024.
The UDA Lawmaker is also demanding a report on the quantities of wheat purchased from local farmers compared to the amount imported by each miller.
He has challenged the committee to explain why millers opted to buy wheat through duty-free imports instead of fully absorbing the locally produced supply.
Furthermore, the Senate Committee, chaired by Bungoma Senator Wafula Wakoli, has been asked to clarify whether wheat imported beyond the allocated quotas was subjected to import duty.
If exemptions were granted, Mandago wants the committee to reveal the amount of revenue forfeited by the government in 2024 due to the waived duties.
This comes after wheat farmers raised an alarm over the continued purchase of the product from outside the country by millers.
According to the farmers, they had an agreement with the government that required millers to mop up local wheat before importing.
The farmers lamented that disregard of the agreement had lef them with nowhere to sell the produce, even as a new planting season approaches.
