Board’s plan to treat maize hit by court tussle

 

Cereals being weighed and packed in an NCPB depot in Nairobi. Photo/FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By DENNIS ODUNGA

 

In Summary

• Some 2.5m bags are at risk of going bad after court froze NCPB’s accounts

Plans by the cereals board to fumigate some 2.5 million bags of maize in its stores have been hit by the on-going court case, which saw its bank accounts frozen.

National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) operations manager Ernest Ogwora on Tuesday said the row pitting the board against Erad Supplies over a Sh500 million debt had adversely affected their operations.

“It is a desperate and frustrating situation. It is some kind of magic that we are still operating. We are even struggling to pay employees. It’s difficult to operate smoothly if your accounts are not operating,” he said.

He blamed delay in acquisition of subsidised top dressing fertiliser on the row, but expressed optimism that more Calcium Ammonium Nitrate would be available at their depots next week.

Farmers have warned of low yields this season due to the delayed acquisition and distribution of the cheap plant food.

The manager was addressing journalists on the sidelines of a meeting between consultants from Ernst and Young and farmers from Uasin Gishu on the planned restructuring of the board’s operations.

The farmers who included Mr Tom Murgor, Mr Julius Chemweno and Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir arap Menjo, said procurement of farm inputs should be reverted to KFA.

“It is unfortunate that the government can deliberately bring down an institution like KFA just to create room for some few influential people to benefit at the expense of a majority of Kenyans,” Mr Chemweno said.

The guaranteed minimum returns that the government scrapped some years back, the farmers said, should be reintroduced to cushion them from losses caused by bad weather.