On Thursday, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri ordered for retailers to sell a 2-kilogram packet of maize flour at 75 shillings.
The current price of a 2-kilogram packet is retailing at between 90 and 110 shillings across various supermarkets and retail joints.
The directive comes as a break for thousands of Kenyans who had raised concerns over the skyrocketing cost of living following the implementation of the 8 percent VAT on petroleum products and 18 shillings on every liter of kerosene.
Initially, millers had threatened to raise the price of maize flour if the government did not drop the move to tax petroleum products but came out with a different tune after the meeting with the CS.
According to the ministry of Agriculture, the country’s maize production has increased tremendously this year with the harvest expected to be completed in December 2018.
The government says Kenya will have at least 40,000 bags of maize this year. Currently, a 90-kilogram bag of dry maize is retailing between 1,200 and 1,600 shillings, down from 3,200 shillings a few months ago.
As the government celebrates the harvest, farmers from various parts of the country are crying foul because of the losses are incurring due to low maize prices. Some farmers in the Rift Valley have started converting their maize into fodder for their livestock to avoid losses of having to sell the produce at the current prices.
Thousands of farmers who delivered their produce to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) in 2017 have not been paid billions of shillings. The government has been issuing empty promises and the farmers have been holding demonstrations from time to time to complain of the same.
Some farmers have also started switching to alternative crops and analysts say that hunger might be knocking in 2019 if the government will not move with speed.