400000 Bags of Maize at NCPB Unfit for Human Consumption

Kenya is indeed a country of controversy. When some people are dying of hunger, some are having so much to themselves that they end up throwing that which gets spoilt.

The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has been reported to be holding 400,000 bags of maize worth nearly Sh1 billion which is said to be unfit for human consumption. More to be noted is that, the so said maize that can no longer be consumed has been in store for more than two years.

This comes as a result of delays in refreshing of stocks from the SFR board records thus the longer period of maize storage by NCPB. Reports have indicated that some stocks in various silos and other conventional storage facilities have been in store for more than eight years, when in real sense, maize is not supposed to be held for more than six months in silos and 24 months for those in conventional stores for proper stock quality management.

Maize is by far the most important food crop in Kenya, playing an integral role in national food security.  Kenya produces around 3 million tons of maize per year, of which about 15 percent is sold directly to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and large millers, most of which comes from medium and large farms in surplus regions of western Kenya.

Read: The Bandit Economy Where the Poor Will Always be Poor

The government normally sets the price of maize that is purchased by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) from millers and traders so as to act as a benchmark for the market price. But this seems not to be helping much as consumers keep being affected by high prices. Millers have said that the prices will not go down until when their will be adequate stocks. The question now is, how come there are no adequate stocks when maize keeps being stored instead of it being sold out?

Each year, the average Kenyan consumes 98 kilograms of maize, the staple of the Kenyan diet. At the same time, maize prices in Kenya are among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, and the poorest quarter of the population spends 28 percent of its income on the crop.

With such statistics at hand, it is so saddening to discover that the grain keeps lying in the NCPB’s stores across the country, while consumers keep being hit hard by the high maize and flour prices in the market due to claimed shortage of maize in the country.

In the past two months, the price of a two-kilogram packet of maize has been rising, with all the major brands retailing at above Sh100, piling pressure on the majority of households who rely on the commodity as their staple. A two-kilogram packet of Jogoo is being sold at Sh110, Pembe Sh101, Soko 101 and Hostess Sh147 in most supermarkets. The State on the other hand said that that the current price of maize is Sh2,400 per bag while millers say that they are buying a 90-kilogramme bag at Sh2,700.

There is a lot more that needs to be implemented so that such cases are not experienced. The country need to come up will better ways of handling matters that directly affect the consumer, who will at all time be the one being hit by the consequences of someone else’s  irresponsibility.