CS Kagwe orders clearance of 321,000 bags of wheat stuck in granaries amid farmers’ outcry

Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has announced that 321,000 bags of wheat harvests stuck in granaries will be cleared. 

While speaking to the press on Monday, the CS directed all farmers and aggregators to deliver their stock to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) beginning Tuesday morning.

“We are presuming that in that case that in the next two or three days we will have cleared the entire lot of wheat in the country because there is no reason why anybody would keep the wheat beyond a week’s time,” he said.

Kagwe added that payments to farmers will be made within 30 days after delivery to the respective warehouses across the country.

“NCPB is going to ensure that the wheat they are receiving is not imported wheat and will only take up locally grown wheat. They have the capacity to do so. The CEO will make sure that the structure will protect the local farmer,” Kagwe added.

He stated that he intends to reduce wheat imports by increasing local farmers' production from 8% to more than 40% of millers' demand.

The CS spoke after a meeting between government officials and millers, attended by the Principal Secretary Dr.Paul Ronoh, NCPB MD. Samuel Karogo, Agriculture and Food Authority DG Dr.Bruno Linyiru, and Agriculture Secretary Collins Marangu.

This comes days after wheat farmers in Narok County staged protests saying their produce has been lying in stores with little promise of making monetary profits.

They claimed that there are well-connected farmers within the government manipulating the supply chain with millers under instructions to prioritize their wheat over that of thousands of famers.