Kenya : “Our rice worth KSh500 million rotting in stores” – Mwea farmers want gov’t to stop importation
Rice farmers under Kenya’s Mwea Irrigation Scheme are urging the government to halt rice imports, citing unsold stock of over 5,000 metric tonnes worth KSh500 million. The Mwea Rice Growers Multipurpose Co-operative Society says local stores are full due to import oversupply, and the halted government purchase program has left farmers unable to sell or plan for the next season.
Rice farmers under Mwea Irrigation Scheme are urging the government to put on hold importation of rice to allow over 5000 metric tonnes of rice worth KSh500 million to be sold.
According to farmers under the Mwea Rice Growers Multipurpose Co-operative Society (MRGM), their stores are full to capacity and no one is buying the rice due to the influx caused by over-importation.
The farmers say that the program started by former President Uhuru Kenyatta to buy paddy rice at KSh85 was stopped leaving the farmers on their own.
MRGM Chairperson Ndege Muriuki says farmers might not be able to plant the rice in the next season since they will not be paid in time as the rice for the last season has not been sold.
Ndege also notes that the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) which was buying the rice from the farmers on behalf of the government has stopped buying the product. And even when KNTC buys, it only buy rice worth KSh20 million, which is not even a quarter of what is in the stores.
The chairman says they have information that the government allegedly allowed the importation of rice more than ten times what is being produced locally which has now left rice grown locally in the stores.
The farmers now want the government to also resume the purchase of rice from the farmers.
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Source : TV 47 Digital
