The Senate has adopted proposals by farmers for the amendment of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Act.
Farmers
want a revolving fund for the purchase of maize created as opposed to
the current situation where NCPB is relying on money from the national
government.
The Senate ad-hoc committee on agriculture,
which visited maize-growing areas in the North Rift in September last
year, is also proposing the registration of all farmers to weed out
cartels who have infiltrated the sector.
"The Senate
has adopted all proposals by farmers which, if implemented, will end
many challenges bedevilling the agriculture sector," said committee
chairperson Margaret Kamar.
The team has also adopted a push by farmers to have guaranteed minimum returns.
According to Prof Kamar, this will assure growers of their true harvest value and make farming a viable investment.
Governors and farmers from maize-growing zones have been demanding that devolved units be allowed to manage the cereals board.
"Agriculture
is a devolved function and we wonder why decisions are still made in
Nairobi while farmers are with us here on the ground," Uasin Gishu
Governor Jackson Mandago told the committee during its sitting in
Eldoret town last year.
During the stormy session,
tempers flared with farmers hitting out at some leaders from the region
who they accused of doing little to address their plight.
Prof
Kamar, who addressed Uasin Gishu County Assembly on Thursday, said
senators from maize-growing zones were in talks with governors to
subsidise fertiliser for farmers.
This follows the announcement by the national government that it will not provide the crucial input this season.
"Lack
of fertiliser is a threat to the country's food security. Agriculture
committees in all the county assemblies in the region should hold
special sittings on maize," Prof Kamar said.
She called
on the government to implement the Maputo Declaration which calls for
10 per cent of the national budget allocated to agriculture.
"This
will go a long way in boosting the country's food security, which is
one of the pillars of the President’s Big Four Agenda," the senator
said.
Prof Kamar was accompanied by senators Ms Mercy
Cheben (nominated), Ms Petronila Were (nominated) and Dr Michael Mbito
(Trans Nzoia).
On Monday last week, Agriculture Cabinet
Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri said his National Treasury counterpart Henry
Rotich is to blame for failing to provide money to import subsidised
fertiliser ahead of the planting season next month, when the long rains
are expected.
The move leaves farmers at the mercy of
local dealers, who are selling a 50-kilogramme bag of fertiliser at
Sh3,500, compared with the Sh1,800 they would have paid for the
government-subsidised input.
Appearing before the
National Assembly’s Agriculture Committee on Monday, Mr Kiunjuri said
his ministry’s efforts to procure 166,750 metric tonnes of the commodity
began in August 2018.
In a process that included
writing letters to Mr Rotich, Mr Kiunjuri told the MPs that he was
instead told by the Treasury to operate within the approved budget of
Sh4.3 billion.
Several counties in the North Rift,
which is the country’s breadbasket, have threatened to impose taxes on
any maize imported to the region to cushion farmers against fluctuating
prices.
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