Some Trans Nzoia farmers reject private warehousing for their crop

National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) warehouse in Nakuru town. It is among the grain storage facilities certified for the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) programme. [Kennedy Gachuhi, Nakuru].

A section of farmers from Trans Nzoia has opposed the warehouse receipt system, saying the initiative is meant to hoodwink them and instead benefit middlemen that their expense.

The government-spearheaded program seeks to provide storage space for farmers' produce at a fee of about Sh50 per bag of dry cereals stored for a year in any of the certified and registered warehouses.

Private entities, who have the ability to provide such storage space, have been given the green light to venture into the business provided they meet the specified standards and regulations.

Such entrepreneurs are certified by the Warehouse Receipt Program Committee in conjunction with the county department of agriculture, which inspects and approves stores earmarked for the initiative.

However, close to four years down the line since the program was initiated, only a handful of farmers have embraced the program with thousands of others opting to store their produce in their own stores.

The idea behind the program was to reduce post-harvest losses by at least 30 per cent, with agricultural experts indicating that about a quarter of the harvested produce goes to waste each season.

Fredrick Rono, a large-scale maize farmer from Cherang'any, however, claims that the Warehouse Receipt Program is just a scheme by a few in the government to fleece unsuspecting farmers.

Rono said farmers have the ability to store their own produce at no cost provided they build good storage facilities, and that the amount the WRP charged farmers to store a single bag of maize was exorbitant.

He noted that the whole process from the transportation of the produce to the select stores and other logistics involved up to when farmers collect their produce was too high and was hence of no value to the farmer.

"This thing should be completely scrapped for what time do we have to store our produce? Farmers need to be directly and constantly selling their produce and even Ruto (the president) knows that we engage in agribusiness and do not have time for this," said Rono.
His sentiments were echoed by John Komen, another farmer from Kwanza sub-county who pointed out that he has been keeping his maize in his own store for several years now yet he had lost nothing in doing so.

Komen said it would be expensive to store 500 bags of cereals under the program as compared to constructing an own store that would store maize for several harvest seasons and also called for a scrap of the program.

Bags of Maize at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) warehouse in Nakuru on March 15, 2021.[Kipsang Joseph,Standard]

"I don't understand what informed this initiative for it is not beneficial to the farmer in any way. Instead, it is the middlemen who would reap big just for providing storage space when the farmer has engaged in the whole production stages," he pointed out.
At the same time, he observed that farmers want to produce and sell their produce instantly they harvest for the production chain to continue as they embark to cultivate again and rather not produce and store yet they need the constant turnovers.
In Trans Nzoia, the county government established five mega stores, one in each of the five sub-counties but they have often remained empty as farmers shy away instead of opting to store their own produce.
Only a handful of entrepreneurs have established or converted their premises to be used in the WRP but their businesses are yet to get a boom.
Kwanza MP Ferdinand Wanyonyi said that the uptake of the program was low and called on stakeholders to popularize its benefits observing that farmers lacked awareness.
Wanyonyi said he would engage agricultural stakeholders to promote the program and ensure that adequate sensitisation is made to alleviate the notion by a section of the farmers that the initiative was a dubious scheme.
National Cereals and Produce Board MD Joseph Kimote encouraged farmers to embrace the program saying it ensures safety and quality maintenance.