The government has set out 7.5 Billion Kenyan shillings, a debt which farmers are demanding from the National cereals and produce Board.
This is according to agriculture and irrigation permanent secretary Dr Richard Lesiambe and the chief administrative secretary in the ministry Dr Andrew Tuimur who said that next week farmers who supplied their maize to the National cereals and produce Board(NCPB) will start receiving their payments.
Tuimur also cited that the remaining balance of kshs 2 Billion will be paid to maize farmers in North Rift region in the next period of Two weeks thus asked them to be patient.
The Two Ps were addressing maize farmers from Chesumei and Mosop constituencies at Kabiyet trading center in Nandi North where they also announced that the government will ensure no Kenyan dies of hunger adding that the country has large portions of land which should be put into proper use and produce enough food for the country.
Dr Tuimur said that counties in NorthRift region should form strong cooperative societies to enable them market their agricultural produce and make maximum use of Eldoret and Kisumu international airports to export their produce/crops.
The Two principals also reminded farmers that the government has subsidized fertiliser from kshs 1800 to kshs 1500 per 50kg bag thus should use the opportunity to benefit from it by producing more produce.
They touched on the presidents’ big Four agendas of health, food security, housing and industrialization that should be implemented before the presidents’ term ends saying Kenya as acountry needs atotal of Fifty one Million bags of maize annually thus farmers should produce high yields to help the government meet the standard.
They urged them to harvest water for cultivation of crops without waiting for rainy seasons alone to do farming reminding them that the government buys 90 kg bag of maize at acost of kshs 3,200 which is not bad.