Narok Farmers have welcomed the directive to take their bags of wheat to the National Cereals and Produce Board and receive their payments within 30 days.
This follows a directive by the Agriculture and Livestock CS Mutahi Kagwe that all farmers and aggregators deliver their wheat stock to NCPB.
The move aims to resolve a crisis where farmers were stranded with 321,000 bags of wheat after harvest.
Kagwe said that payments to farmers will take place within 30 days after delivery to the warehouses across the country, which will be done by NCPB.
Narok farmers have welcomed the directive saying the government has sped up the process of taking in the wheat.
Speaking after a consultative meeting between wheat farmers and the Cereals Growers Association held at NCPB, Narok Agriculture CEC Joyce Keshe said NCPB have agreed on the pricing of the wheat with farmers.
She said the wheat will be taken as Grade 1 at Sh5, 300 and Grade 2 at Sh5, 200.
“The deliberations for the pricing were as agreed. We thank the government because the farmers are happy that the prices were maintained. The Narok farmers have agreed to bring the wheat at NCPB,” she said.
South Rift Region NCPB manager Emily Okwai said they are ready to uptake the wheat at their silos.
“We have engaged our staff and they are prepared. I believe the farmers are happy that the exercise will start immediately. We are ready as an organization and everything else is in place. We will take wheat grades one and two, and we have parameters for each grade, we are ready to execute the programme with ease,” Okwai said.
Speaking on Monday, the CS expressed his intentions to reduce the importation of wheat by ensuring local farmers produce from the current eight per cent to above 40 per cent of demand by the Millers.
The move to have NCPB collect wheat from farmers also gives a database that will be used to issue subsidised fertilisers, which further reduce the cost of production, hence more profits.
The CS spoke after a meeting to address challenges faced by farmers at his office at the Kilimo house.
