Farmers laud government for re-opening Moi’s Bridge maize depot

Lorries loaded with maize queue to deliver the produce to the National Cereals and Produce Board Eldoret depot. Maize farmers in the North Rift region have lauded the government for re-opening the National Cereals and Produce Board silo at Moi’s Bridge. The Mois’Bridge depot buys maize from farmers in the counties of; Bungoma, Trans-Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet and Nandi. PHOTO/FILE 

In Summary

• Led by Kenya National Farmers’ Federation Uasin Gishu County branch chair Musa Barno, the grain growers thanked the ministry of Agriculture for solving the problem at the depot which had seen services grind to a halt for one week.
• Mr Enos Tarrus, a maize farmer from Ziwa, Uasin Gishu County, called upon Mr Koskei to pay a visit to NCPB depots in the country and in particular Moi’s Bridge to familiarise himself with the business on the ground.

By Nation Correspondent
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Maize farmers in the North Rift region have lauded the government for re-opening the National Cereals and Produce Board silo at Moi’s Bridge.

Led by Kenya National Farmers’ Federation Uasin Gishu County branch chair Musa Barno, the grain growers thanked the ministry of Agriculture for solving the problem at the depot which had seen services grind to a halt for one week.

Mr Barno also welcomed the government’s plan to set aside enough money to buy maize from farmers this season.

However, he urged Agriculture cabinet secretary Felix Koskei to consider expanding Moi’s Bridge grain silos in order to accommodate all the maize bought from the region.

“The NCPB Moi’s Bridge depot has a large land that the government can use to build another silo because currently farmers from six counties in this region deliver their maize here and the facilities are not enough,” Mr Barno said.

Business had been paralysed at the buying centre for a week due to lack of oil used to run the depot’s maize drier, the farmers said.

A spot check by the Saturday Nation at the grain store established that a two-and-half-kilometre queue of trucks, tractors and pick-ups lining up to deliver maize had formed.

Mr Enos Tarrus, a maize farmer from Ziwa, Uasin Gishu County, called upon Mr Koskei to pay a visit to NCPB depots in the country and in particular Moi’s Bridge to familiarise himself with the business on the ground.

Mr Tarrus said that the delay to deliver maize at the depot was affecting farmer’s produce stating that the moisture content was rising to unacceptable levels.

“We want to thank the government through the NCPB for buying maize from us at good prices of Sh3,000 per 90 kilogramme bag,” Mr Tarrus added.

Another farmer from Trans-Nzoia County, Mr Fred Ongweny, advised the depot management to improve its communication.

“Instead of taking us round and round, the managers of NCPB should come forward and communicate clearly because some of us are currently incurring a lot of expenses around this place considering that we have to pay for our accommodation, dry the maize among others,” Ongweny said.

However, Edmond Ruto another farmer from Ziwa advised the NCPB to start exchanging fertilizers with maize in efforts to reduce the delay of operations at the facility during the planting season.

The government has already supplied fertilizer at the NCPB depots in the country with a 50 kilogramme bag of fertilizer now going for Sh 2, 480 at the facilities.

“Instead of the government giving us cash money after we deliver the maize, it should take a portion of the amount then exchange it for fertilizer so that we reduce the delays witnessed during the planting season.

A farmer can just deliver maize then carry the fertilizer home ready for the next planting season instead of coming back to buy it again from the depot,” he said.

The maize drier at the Eldoret NCPB depot broke down and the government is still in the process of repairing it while the depot in Ziwa is now full thus no maize is being bought from farmers there.

In a recent media interview, Agriculture Secretary Koskei said that the government was committed to ensuring that all depots are functioning to the benefit of the farmers.

Koskei highlighted that the facility in Eldoret will be up and running after 14 days.

“The firm that was contracted to repair the maize drier at the Eldoret depot has told us that the machine will be effective after two weeks.

We have already paid him the money we owed him and operations are set to resume,” Koskei said.

The Mois’Bridge depot buys maize from farmers in the counties of; Bungoma, Trans-Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet and Nandi.