Farmers in Makueni County are set to benefit from a new digital agricultural trading platform linked to the warehouse receipt System hosted by the Kenya National Multi Commodities Exchange Limited (KOMEX).
The revelations were made by KOMEX team leader Deputy Director Boniface Makau when they paid a courtesy call on Makueni County Deputy Governor (DG) Lucy Mulili in her Wote office on Tuesday.
While lauding makueni for leading in the production of pulses, Makau disclosed that green grams, cow peas and pigeon peas farmers are the main beneficiaries in the new trading system.
He further said that farmers will list their produce on the digital platform and preferred prices, whereby buyers will make direct payments to sellers’ bank accounts within 48 hours, hence ensuring faster transactions and reducing exploitation from middlemen.
“Through the platform, farmers will be able to reap maximum profits and avoid exploitation by middlemen,” said Makau.
The digital platform is designed to streamline access to markets for both agricultural and non-agricultural commodities and offer essential services like price discovery, risk information, market information, and trading financing, besides creating a transparent trading system.
KOMEX, a financial state corporation under the State Department for Trade, is mandated to promote market access and address inefficiencies in commodity trading.
The platform is currently in the onboarding phase, targeting a broad range of stakeholders, including farmers, aggregators, cooperatives, traders, warehouse operators, financial institutions, off-takers, service providers, and institutional consumers.
On her part, Deputy Governor Mulili said that this will remove brokers and unscrupulous businessmen who have been exploiting farmers and ensure they reap maximum profits from their farm produce.
While saying that farmers will not sell their farm produce in a hurry, she called for stronger collaboration between the county and the national governments.
She further said that the programme will be done on a pilot basis while adding that it has been implemented in Migori county.
“There is a need to collaborate between the national and county governments to address the inadequate storage facilities. Farmers stand to benefit since they will get maximum profits,” Muli said.
By Patrick Nyakundi
