Panic selling hits market on plan to import cheap maize
A tractor tills a farm in Elburgon, Nakuru County, on January 2, 2023, in preparation for the planting season. Farmers have started early preparation of their farms for the planting of short-term crops following the end of the Christmas and New Year festivities.
It is time to sell, and sell fast. Farmers in the North Rift region have just over three weeks left within which to offload their maize stocks or risk incurring huge losses on the back of the planned importation of duty-free grain.
President William Ruto recently announced that the government would allow farmers to sell their produce at the current prices of above Sh5,000 per 90-kilogramme bag ahead of the importation of duty-free maize and rice from February, part of efforts to avert a food crisis.
