An independent NCPB will be commercially viable, efficient

By Benjamin Yator

According to National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) website, it offers services at its depots and silos countrywide. It procures, manages and markets grains. It provides farmers with high quality products and services at competitive prices. The commercial role of NCPB is grain trading. Other additional services include: Leasing out surplus facilities, grain drying, weighing, fumigation, grain cleaning, grading, warehousing, and bagging at silos and clearing and forwarding. The latest addition to its services is the warehousing receipting system. Under the system, farmers deliver grain to a warehouse and are issued with a receipt they can use as collateral to borrow money from the bank, while they also wait for the prices to go up before selling their produce.

From the above description of NCPB’s services and products, why does it not live to its mission? If it does it will automatically be commercially viable. It has all the resources it requires to deliver its mandate to farmers and Kenyans. But that is not the case if the headlines in the local dailies is anything to go by. Look at this sample of headlines: Auctioneers raid NCPB to recover debts, NCPB and MEA fertilizer imports battle rages on, Kosgey orders NCPB to probe fertilizer scam, NCPB seeks funds to import fertilizer, farmers accuse NCPB over fertilizer, among others. Reading such news makes one believe that there is no proper management or there is total collapse of systems in this organisation and my fear is that it will not help the country achieve food security.

Every year, the Government releases funds for NCPB to purchase maize, wheat and other cereals from farmers. The Treasury also allows it to import subsidised fertilizer, which is sold to farmers. What many Kenyans don’t understand is for how long will this entity be a drain to the exchequer? Can’t it be self sustaining? Why can’t the Government give it a loan and encourage it to be commercially self reliant? If NCPB was to ever become independent it needs to operate as a business entity and not as a collection and distribution point for Government purchased cereals and other farm inputs. My observation on operations of the board reveal that after mopping up cereals from the farmers using public money, the same public is not informed on its issues and proceeds when such cereals are sold to millers, individuals and other relief agencies.

The only time we get to know there is nothing in its silos is when the management raises the alarm that the strategic reserves have been totally depleted. We know that NCPB stores more than the strategic reserves, so what the public need to know is what becomes of the proceeds of these sales.

For proper management of this important entity, I suggest that it be allowed to run independently. For a start, the Government may give it a loan to buy enough maize and other cereals for its strategic reserves and for commercial purposes. Because strategic reserves are for the Government and the cereals board just stores on its behalf, it should pay for storage charges. When the board sells the maize to relief agencies, individuals, millers or export to other countries, it should repay the loan less the storage charges to the Treasury.

When there is a shortfall of grains in the country and imports are needed to bridge the gap, the board should compete with other organisations for import tenders like the way National Oil Corporation competes with other oil marketers for import rights of petroleum products. Likewise importation of subsidised fertilizer should be treated the same way. By doing this the board will have no option but to be efficient, effective and customer oriented in its operations. To achieve this, a new organisational culture needs to be established through management restructuring devoid of Government (read political) interference.

The writer comments on social and development matters