Kenya seeks better maize storage to stop losses, stabilise prices

Kenya seeks better maize storage to stop losses, stabilise prices
Maize farmers in Kenya will be required to take their surplus maize into professional warehousing facilities to prevent them from falling prey to brokers who pay knock-down prices and sell at a premium to consumers, disrupting the price of Kenya's staple food, senior government official said.

Kenya just commenced harvesting season of maize in the Rift Valley and Western parts of the country that form its bread basket.

The country is careful to stock up the maize to avoid repeat to severe shortage experienced this year that almost doubled the cost of a two kilogram packet of processed maize, popular among the country's households.

"We are educating farmers that whatever they harvest, they should take it to professional warehouses so that the maize is stored well and sold at a better market price at a future date," said Dr Romano Kiome, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture.

He said in the North Rift and parts of Western province, harvesting of long rains crop now going on is likely to coincide with prolonged rains.

"Farmers are advised to take adequate measures in preserving their grains to avoid post harvest losses," he said.

Ministry of Agriculture has forecast that Kenya will have surplus maize by June 2012 and subsequent harvests that will follow will mean the country may not experience food shortage in the near future.

"By June 2012, we see our production meeting the local demand and we shall become net exporter of maize," said Assistant Minister for Agriculture Kareke Mbiuki told an international conference on agriculture extension services that started in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Tuesday.

The four-day conference brings together farmers, more than 20 ministers of Agriculture from Africa and 400 leading global experts in agriculture development.

Professional warehouses are part of the Warehousing Receipt System started in Kenya in 2009 and still being developed to enable the country build the structures for a Commodity Exchange.

When farmers take their maize to professional warehouses, they are issued with receipts or certificates that they can use to borrow money in specific banks suing their stocks with the warehouse as collateral.

This means farmers will not be forced to sell their maize prematurely, mostly to the brokers, to meet immediate financial needs. The warehouse then keeps the maize until there is demand when it can fetch better prices.

This model is expected to continue in the next two years, according to Gerald Masila, the Executive Director of Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC), when the Commodity Exchange is expected to be up and running.

"We have drafted the legislation to set up the exchange and its being reviewed by the government," he told Xinhua in an earlier interview.

Having the maize stored in professional warehouses will also help the country address the problem of grain losses because of poor storage facilities.

It is estimated that up to estimated to be 30 percent of the 40 million bags of maize that are harvested annually, according to the National Cereals and Produce Board statistics because farmers either do not have required skills to store the maize or lack proper facilities.

In addition to loss, poor storage has also led to infection of maize by poisonous fungi known as aflatoxin that has cause deaths in the country when unsuspecting people consumed affected maize.

Editor: Xiong Tong

English.news.cn   2011-11-16 10:11:41 FeedbackPrintRSS
NAIROBI, Nov. 15 (Xinhua)