Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Monday, November 21, detailed how the government will deal with maize shortage after it emerged that importation plans were underway.
In a statement, Kuria announced that no maize will be imported but Kenyans will consume their own produced maize.
The CS further insinuated that some large-scale farmers in the country deliberately hold their produce and refuse to sell the maize to local millers.
“It is estimated that farmers are sitting on 20 Million bags of Maize. Let them release it to the Millers,” he stated.
Millers who defy his order of buying maize from the farmers were also put on notice with the CS stating that he should be notified of such cases.
“You can call me if no Miller is buying your maize,” he added.
According to the trade docket boss, farmers are expected to harvest 20 million bags of maize in two weeks, assuring the country of adequate supply of the staple.
Kuria emphasized that the farmers should directly sell the maize to millers after harvesting to prevent artificial shortage, which leads to importation.
In the statement, the controversial CS noted that a gazette notice will be issued to open the market for millers and everyone else to import maize.
“The gazette notice we will release today will open up the market to millers and anyone to import Maize duty-free for 6 months. The government will not import any maize,” he noted.
Kuria also hinted at a possibility of the country experiencing poor rain distribution in the March-April-May season, and that the country was assessing how the forecast would affect maize harvest.
“The Government will not subsidize consumption. It will continue subsidizing and supporting production through fertilizers and other inputs,” he uttered.
The announcement came after Kuria made controversial remarks on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) indicating that the Cabinet had deliberately made a decision to allow imports sparking widespread condemnation.
“Being in this country you are a candidate for death. And because there are many things competing for death, there is nothing wrong with adding GMOs to that list," he stated while defending GMOs in November 18.
