Kenya National Federation of Farmers (KEFFA) Migori branch Chairperson Peter Chacha has urged the national government to open the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depots to facilitate maize purchase.
Chacha, who spoke to KNA said that middlemen have already started to purchase a 90-kilogramme bag at Sh 1,200, which is way too low below the market value.
The official who was re-elected as the chairperson of the Kenya National Federation of Farmers (KEFFA)-Migori branch Chairperson for the next three years said that the Sh 1,200 per 90 Kilogramme bag will result in loss of profit to farmers across the South Nyanza Region.
Chacha said that this year farmers had to endure many challenges including heavy rains that swept away some of the farmer’s maize. He added that some fake fertilizer that found its way into the market somehow resulted in low maize yields.
He pointed out that farmers especially in the Kuria region have been harvesting between 15 to 20 bags per acre but this year the same piece of land was producing less than ten bags.
Chacha called upon the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that all the fake fertilizers are rooted out of the market to give hope for the next planting season that starts in August.
“We are happy that all our four NCPB depots have enough subsided fertilizer but our major concern is the fake products that may have found their way in”, lamented Chacha.
The official also encouraged the County government to work with the NCPB to ensure they open a branch in Nyatike Sub County to ease the transportation burden of subsidized fertilizer from Suna West to Nyatike.
He elaborated that farmers from Nyatike have been incurring lots of transportation costs at Sh1,200 per trip to transport their subsided fertilizer from Suna West NCPB depot to Nyatike.
By Geoffrey Makokha
