Ministers affirm food crisis not a national disaster

By Vitalis Kimutai

The Government says it will not declare the ongoing famine a national disaster.

Agriculture Minister Sally Kosgei and her Special Programmes counterpart Esther Murugi said the nation had enough food.

"We have enough food to feed the hungry and we do not have immediate plans to import grains," Dr Kosgei said. She said farmers in Rift Valley had surplus food from last season’s harvest.

Kosgei said the Government was considering revising upwards the Sh1,800 offered to farmers for 90kgs of maize delivered to the National Cereals and Produce Board.

Market rates

"Farmers have complained that they are making losses under the prevailing market rates for maize and want the price raised to Sh2,300," Kosgei said.

She said: "There should be a balancing act to ensure farmers are given incentives to produce more and make profit. But on the other hand, the prices have to be realistic".

She said the high cost of fertilisers, which currently stand at an average Sh3,700 per bag, would be reduced as happened when the Government was compelled to intervened two years ago.

"We shall ensure as a ministry that the fertiliser prices are reverted to the previous ones to allow farmers produce more food to feed the nation," Kosgei said.

Mrs Murugi said the Government would purchase the surplus grains to feed the hungry. "In the meantime, we buy 90kgs of maize from farmers at Sh1,800 as we look into how the prices can be raised," Murugi said.

She appealed to farmers to make their grains affordable to hungry families. "We need to calculate the cost of producing a bag of maize against the price of the grains offered in the market. We do not want a situation where farmers will raise the prices too much," Murugi said.

They spoke at Mosoriot National Cereals and Produce Board stores in Mosop constituency yesterday, while on a fact-finding mission in the North Rift region. They were accompanied by Assistant Minister Gideon Ndambuki and NCPB Managing Director Gideon Misoi.