Traders sell their goods by the roadside at the Elburgon open-air market in Nakuru County. PHOTO | JOHN NJOROGE | NMG
The Ministry of Agriculture has started a fresh crackdown on traders violating potato packaging rules after some players started packing them in extended bags.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Kellow Harsama said traders have to comply with the regulation, which was effected last year in order to save farmers from losses that they incur when the commodity weighed beyond the required 50 kilogrammes.
Mr Harsama regretted that things have gone back to normal with traders using extended bags in the packaging of potatoes, just a year after the rule was effected.
“It is unfortunate that much has not been done and cartels are packing potatoes in extended bags, we are not going to allow this as a ministry,” said Mr Harsama.
READ: New rule on 50kg potato packaging takes effect April 2
Mr Harsama is the one who oversaw the implementation of Irish Potato 2019 regulations when he was the director general of the Agriculture and Food Authority before he resigned to contest for the gubernatorial seat in Marsabit County.
At the height of its implementation last year in June, major markets across the country had complied with the 50-kilo rule from as high as 120kg following sensitisation of stakeholders.
Mr Harsama said there is a group of cartels that are fighting the changes in the potato sector, pointing out that the government will deal with them in the coming days as it re-enforces the regulations across the country.
“We know the cartels who have been opposing these laws long before even they were implemented, I am putting them on notice because we are coming for them,” he said.
READ: Blow for middlemen as court backs 50kg potato packaging
Following a 2014 directive by AFA meant to implement the long-delayed rule, 17 traders moved to court seeking to quash it, terming it unconstitutional since they were allegedly never consulted.
However, the court last year ruled in favour of growers, directing that the Packaging of potatoes will remain capped at 50 kilogrammes at the farm gate.
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