Winstone Chiseremi @Wchiseremi
Maize farmers in North Rift yesterday welcomed the directive by the government to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) to waive charges for drying maize delivered at the depots terming the move timely.
They said small-scale farmers were the most hit by the charges imposed by the State corporation on drying of their maize delivered to the depots despite President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive during his two-day tour of development projects in the region last month that the service should be free.
Led by Ismale Kiprop, they said most farmers had resorted to drying their harvested maize on the roads and school playgrounds as they could not afford drying charges by NCPB. He said several bags of their maize had started to rot because of the poor drying methods they were using leading to its rejection upon delivery at the NCPB.
“The NCPB driers had been left to large-scale farmers who could afford the charges as small-scale maize farmers opted to dry their harvested produce on the road,” said Kiprop. While touring the NCPB Eldoret depot on Tuesday, newly- appointed Agriculture Cabinet secretary Willy Bett announced a waiver on charges for drying maize delivered to the facility.
Post-harvesting effects He said the government, through the strategic food grain reserve has allocated Sh156 million to take care of the waiver. The CS said maize farmers lose up to 20 per cent of their produce due to post-harvesting effects and lack of good storage facilities.
He assured the farmers that he will involve them and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector in addressing challenges they face including infrastructure, producer prices and the cost of production.
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