Nanyuki: Farmers in Laikipia and Meru Counties have unanimously agreed to hoard their wheat following dissatisfaction with the buying price offered by millers. Speaking in Nanyuki Town on Monday, the farmers said they have over one million bags of wheat stored up in warehouses and that they were unwilling to sell in what they term as contravention of agreed prices offered by the Government through Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) ahead of the 2024/2025 planting season.
According to Kenya News Agency, the farmers pointed out that local millers and their marketing agents were offering Sh3500 per 90-kilogram bag against the agreed Sh5300, a stalemate that they expect the government to resolve. One of the farmers, William Gatiti, said he has 600,000 bags of wheat in store but he was unwilling to sell them at a low price even though he has a Sh4.5 million loan to pay back.
‘There is a market challenge for wheat farmers. We have harvested but our products are stuck in the warehouses. We are calling on the government to intervene and address this issue. Even the banks that financed me and others are waiting for us to service our loan,’ Gatiti said.
Aaron Mutua said he foresaw a situation in which the millers would be allowed to import the commodity at a cheaper price, a scenario, he said, which is frustrating and would lead to massive losses. ‘We agreed on the prices. We are not aware of what has changed for the government to allow millers to purchase the wheat at throwaway prices. It’s watering down the farmers’ effort,’ Mutua said.
Mutua called on the government to regulate wheat importation volumes to ensure that local millers import only what the country has as a deficit to avoid flooding the local market with cheap, often poor-quality wheat, leading to unfair competition. ‘Wheat importation should not be allowed since we can produce enough and high quality wheat compared to imported grains. The government needs to remind the millers to stick to the set prices,’ he said.
Under the Wheat Programme, Kenyan millers are allowed to import wheat at a subsidised import duty of 10 percent instead of the full duty of 35 percent as per the Common External Tariff of the East Africa Community. Following this, the farmers want the government to compel millers to buy their allocated quota of local wheat or alternatively terminate the Duty Remission Scheme they have with the millers and apply the full 35 percent duty.