Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has asked the national government to halt importation of duty free rice that has flooded the market and save local farmers from losses.
Ms Waiguru said harvesting season for rice in the expansive Mwea irrigation scheme is setting in and ongoing importation of the commodity could further destabilise prices.
Instead, she said the government should prioritise buying all the locally produced rice before allowing importation of duty-free products.
The governor, who spoke in an interview after delivering the State-of-the-County Address at the Kirinyaga County Assembly on Tuesday, said that while it is understandable that the country does not produce enough rice to meet the national demand, priority should be given to local farmers.
Rice farmers in Mwea have raised the alarm over alleged flooding of the market with cheap imported rice that has forced prices of the local produce to stagnate.
“The rice import should only be to bridge the deficit and not to flood the market, so before you import rice from outside, priority should be given to our farmers,” she said.
The governor further said that rice farmers should be allowed to buy the Mwea Rice Mills (MRM) when it is offered for privatisation.
Waiguru said because farmers own 45 percent of MRM, it is only logical that they are given priority in buying the 55 percent national government’s stake in the facility.
She said the county government will fight for farmers to be given priority in acquiring the National Government shares in MRM so that they can run the factory.
Ms Waiguru said that, since the completion of the Thiba Dam, farmers have been able to grow rice for three seasons instead of one.
“As a result, Mwea Irrigation Scheme is now Kenya's leading rice producer, accounting for approximately 80 percent of the nation's rice output, with a current total annual production of 210,000 tonnes, up from 90,000 tonnes in 2017, with an income of Sh15 billion,” she said.
In a gazette notice, Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury, John Mbadi, had directed the importation of duty free Grade 1 rice on or before December 31, 2025.
Last week, Mwea Rice Growers Chairman Ndege Muriuki said farmers were worried that the decision could lead to drastic price drop.
“One good thing about Pishori rice is that it has always had a ready market and fetches a fair price, but now, with imported rice entering duty free, we fear that our local Basmati rice will have nowhere to go. We will begin harvesting our main season crop, a bumper harvest and if we lack a market for that, we will suffer huge losses,” Mr Muriuki said.
