Farmers pack dry maize into bags in Nakuru County on September 23, 2024.
Millers have changed tactics and adapted contemporary marketing technologies to outsmart government agencies in fierce competition for maize amid increased demand from an anticipated shortage of the staple on the market.
Some millers are offering attractive incentives — including higher prices, free transport from the farm gate, and prompt payment — to the relief of farmers who have endured low prices for their produce for the last two years.
They have placed advertisements in strategic points in maize growing zones in the regions of Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia counties offering Sh3,850 per 90kg bag due to the anticipated shortage of the grain despite the projected bumper harvest of 60 million bags as compared to an average of 41 million bags in the previous seasons.
“We purchase maize at Sh3,650 per 90kgs and make prompt payment. Sell the produce to us,” said one of the advertisements by millers placed along the Eldoret- Kitale highway.
Other millers and traders have launched a door-to-door campaign to woo farmers in another strategy to outwit the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB). The state agency targets to purchase up to 1 million bags at Sh3,500 per 90 Kg bag, amounting to Sh3.5 billion for the National Strategic Food Reserve.
“The cutthroat competition by millers and NCPB that has pushed the prices high will motivate most farmers to invest in the next crop and earn better returns,” said Maria Kosgei from Sergoit, Uasin Gishu County.
The country projects bumper maize harvests this season following the distribution of government-subsidised fertiliser and the availability of short-term crops as a result of heavy rains.
Trans Nzoia County is expected to harvest an estimated 5.3 million bags of maize while it consumes about 2 million bags with an estimated 3.3 million being released to the market.
Uasin Gishu County, another maize-producing zone, is projected to harvest about 4.5 million bags of maize this season out of which more than 2.5 million bags will be released to the market.
The NCPB has so far purchased close to 16,000 bags of maize in the North Rift as most farmers reserve the crop in anticipation of better prices.
“There is a slow pace of farmers delivering their produce to our buying centres and benefit from our prompt payment,” said Titus Maiyo, Corporate communications manager.
The Kenya Kwanza administration has pledged to put in place measures that will ensure the country does not import maize by 2025.
The country imports food worth Sh500 billion annually but President William Ruto has pledged to prioritise agriculture and help farmers increase productivity to cut down on the imports.
But while maize farmers are enjoying a ready market for their product at attractive rates, their wheat counterparts are staring at heavy losses due to a lack of market despite a government ban on the importation of the grains that have destabilised prices in the local market.
The “poor millionaires” are stuck with the produce as most millers are reluctant to purchase the wheat, which has led to prices as low as Sh4,200 down from Sh5,600 per 90Kg bag.
“I projected to earn over Sh2 million from the more than 300 bags of wheat I harvested this season but there is no market for the produce. It risks going to waste due to attacks by pests since most millers are not keen on buying the produce,” said James Songok, a commercial maize and wheat farmer from Kerita, Uasin Gishu County.
He is among wheat farmers in the region who have threatened to abandon cultivation of the crop accusing the government of favouring imports at the expense of local producers.
“Measures have to be taken to save the Kenyan farmer. Foreign are being enriched at the expense of the local farmers who have to compete against cheaply imported grains produced mostly in Europe and South America, “Mr Robert Kaptich, a farmer from Kesses in Uasin-Gishu County.
The government has banned the importation of wheat to protect the local market from cheap imports that have destabilized prices.
The Principal Secretary for Agriculture Dr Paul Kipronoh Ronoh issued the order last month noting that the decision will only be rescinded after the millers mop up the local produce at attractive rates and make prompt payments to farmers.
“No miller dealing in wheat will be allowed to import the produce until all the wheat locally produced is mopped up by the millers,” said the PS in Eldoret when he disclosed an array of measures to motivate farmers to increase crop productivity and cushion them against exploitation by traders.
He disclosed that the country produces 2.2 million metric tonnes of wheat annually, accounting for only 5 per cent, forcing importation of the deficit.
“What we know is that most wheat farmers have not been paid for the produce purchased but we have had meetings with millers on how to mop up the produce and pay farmers their dues,” said Mr Ronoh.
The country’s wheat production has dropped with Rift Valley harvesting 4.5 million bags of wheat from 127,825 hectares of land last season against an annual potential of 6.2 million bags.
Acreage under wheat production in Uasin Gishu County, for instance, dropped from 40,000 hectares to 18,000 hectares last season due to what farmers have attributed to the challenge of rust, climate change, and market violability.
The government has raised the minimum prices that millers pay for top-grade wheat by Sh100 from Sh5,300 up from Sh5,200 last season.
Wheat farmers want duty on imported wheat increased from 10 to above 30 percent to cushion them from cheap imports.
“The customs duty imposed on imports has been lowered to the extent of flooding the local market and suffocating farmers,” said Joshua Too, a large-scale farmer from Moiben, Uasin Gishu county, who has 200 bags of wheat.
The wheat farmers expressed fears of stagnating yield due to repeated outbreaks of stem rust and ug99 and want new technologies introduced to increase production and attract better returns.
“Apart from adapting new technologies, wheat farmers need to access superior seeds that adapt to climate change and are disease resistant to increase wheat production,” said Jackson Kosgei from Sergoit, Uasin Gishu County.
Wheat was the second most important cereal after maize five years ago in terms of production and consumption but the trend has since changed as more farmers diversified to other more profitable investments.
Inadequate information and limited access to suitable varieties and processing technologies from research institutions have been identified by the Ministry of Agriculture as other factors contributing to the decline of wheat production in the country.
Limited availability of breeder and certified seed and instability in producer prices following limited government intervention in wheat marketing coupled with malfunctioning deregulated cereal market are other contributors to low wheat production.
