Kwanza MP Ferdinand Wanyonyi has urged the government to promptly announce new maize prices, noting that the continued silence on the matter is in turn hurting the farmers.
Speaking in Kitale, Wanyonyi, who is also a committee member in the National Assembly’s Agriculture Committee said many farmers have incurred losses by selling maize at the previously set government price of a 90kg bag. He made it clear that they won’t accept the selling price to be set at under Kshs 3,400, revealing that as the Agriculture Committee, they had proposed to Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri to set the price of a 90kg bag at kSHS 3,400. “As the Agriculture committee in the (National) Assembly we deliberated on the same settled on Kshs 3400. We forwarded our proposals to the Cabinet Secretary for agriculture Mwangi Kiunjuri, and I’m wondering why he hasn’t released the selling price.”
He further pointed out that the government was not keen on importation of
fertilizer, “we are now in October and the government hasn’t even announced when it intends to import fertilizer….it needs to plan early so that there is no deficiency,” he said. He said the aforementioned Agriculture Committee is deliberating on summoning CS Kiunjuri to explain why no efforts have been made to import fertilizer.
The Kwanza MP also urged the government to come up with guidelines that curb middlemen from purchasing maize from farers. He said many middlemen are taking advantage of this season, and are buying maize from farmers, adding that it may pose a health risk give that some maize may not be in the best condition.
