Cost of unga will reduce to level never seen in 10 years, CS Linturi says

Agriculture and Livestock Cs Mithika Linturi has said the country is expecting a bumper harvest
following subsidization of farm inputs. He said it’s Kenyan’s responsibility to feed themselves and that why they have subsidized fertilizer.

Speaking at the National Agricultural Summit held at KICC yesterday, Linturi said the government has put in place measures to ensure that there will be no wastage of food produced.
“I am making a commitment to farmers that we will not loose any of our harvest out of our failure to to provide adequate space for storage. Our projections for harvest is quite high. We are going to set ware house systems where farmers will deposit their produce and given receipts,” CS Linturi said.

Bridging cereals gaps
Linturi further said that for the last four years the country has been producing a maximum of 26 million bags of maize but this year’s projections is 44 million bags adding that the deficit will not exceed 5 million bags.

“For the last four years the maximum we have produced is 26 million bags. Our projections indicate that we will reach 44 million, meaning we will be able to bridge the gap by 19 million. Our average consumption is 50-52 million bags per year and I don’t expect the deficit to be beyond five million bags,” he said.

Drastic reduction in price of flour
With the country experiencing skyrocketing cost of living staged by increase in taxes, Linturi said
that after the harvest season, the cost of will come down to the level that hasn’t been experienced in the last 10 years. However, he didn’t specify the price that unga will be retailed at.
“Our commitment is that once the harvest season is done, the cost of unga will go down to the levels that have not been experienced in the last 10 years. If we have enough supply, then the prices will drastically reduce,” he asserted.

Better prices for farmers
Cs Linturi further said that his ministry has written to the treasury to give them funds for them to set prices of maize in order to stabilize the market. Additionally he alluded that farmers will reap handful out of their produce.

“We have asked the treasury for more funds (more than one billion) so that we can be able to to set the price of maize and stabilize the markets. I am looking for a stabilization fund of prices so that anyone must buy above the price that I will set but I am confident that the farmers will make better money compared to the later years,” he said.

Phasing out dependency on imports
With Kenya being an agricultural nation, Linturi said that he is “embarrassed” that the country still depends on imports 60 years after independence. “I am embarrassed, we cannot be depending on imports as a government 60 years after independence and Kenya is an agricultural country. We have put in place measures to support production and inputs so that we can produce and reverse importation,” he asserted.