Governor Mandago cautions govt against selling maize to millers

Farmers led by Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago are now appealing to the government not to sell the 1.7 million bags of maize to millers and instead release it to Kenyans.

This follows reports of plans by the Ministry of Agriculture to offload maize in the government silos to create room for two million bags.

According to Governor Mandago, the ministry ought to convene a meeting with farmers and strategic food reserves to discuss the best ways of offloading the maize in government stores.

According to Mandago, if the millers are allowed to buy the 1.7 million bags and strategic food reserves (SFR) buy 2 million bags of maize, then the government will have lost the purpose and mandate of SFR in stabilising prices.

The governor further noted that it will be a great loss to farmers if millers will buy the 1.7 million bags from the government which in turn means that they will stop buying from them.

The governor who was speaking in Kapsabet after a meeting with farmers from Nandi County and the Maize Task Force also called for recommendations that will help address the outstanding issues and bring an end to the untold suffering of peasant farmers.

Governor Mandago said that farmers also have solutions to some of the challenges saying that if the government had listened to them, solutions could have been found long ago.

Mandago now wants the State to make farming a profitable and attractive venture which he says will enable food security.