Kenya : State to purchase all Mwea rice in stock
The Kenyan government will purchase all rice in stock from Mwea Irrigation Scheme farmers to prepare for the next harvest. This follows farmer complaints about unsold local rice and unfair competition from imported rice branded as Mwea’s. Authorities assured prompt payment and market support. The move also aims to reduce rice imports and boost local production under the BETA Plan.
The government will buy all rice in stock from farmers in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme to give room for the next harvesting season.
This comes after numerous complaints by farmers that the government is importing a lot of rice yet they have locally produced rice in their stores with no market.
The farmers also regretted the branding of imported rice to look like the premium Mwea rice, terming it unfair market competition.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe, had sent a team from the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) and Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) to address concerns raised by farmers under the Mwea Irrigation Scheme regarding the impact of Rice importation and the sale of locally produced rice.
Bruno Linyiru, Director General of the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) of Kenya, who visited Mwea, assured over 8,500 farmers that the rice that is available will all be bought by KNTC, and payment processed promptly.
He denied that Mwea produced rice to compete with the rice that is imported, saying it gets to a totally different market. “What is produced in Mwea is niche market-oriented rice, that is very good quality, very aromatic, and has a different market; therefore, we came here to see what it is that we are holding and how we can make this work,” Linyiru said.
“As the regulator, we have also noticed concerns raised by the society and we also know this could be true, that there are a few unscrupulous traders who could be packaging imported rice to make it look like the Basmati rice or the Pishori rice that we have in Mwea. We will be cracking down on this,” he noted.
Linyiru added that Kenya produces 191,000 metric tonnes of milled rice annually, which can only last for two months because the monthly requirement is about 100,000 metric tonnes.
He reiterated that since January, only 94,000 metric tonnes of Rice has been imported, hence the need to increase local production to reduce reliance on imports to supplement the gap.
“Under the BETA Plan the government intends to reduce imports from 80 to 50 per cent. Already in the year 2024 our production has increased up to 90,000 metric tonnes. This is quite a huge increase, so we expect that by 2017 we will have reduced this to 50 per cent.”
Lucy Anagwe, Managing Director KNTC, also encouraged farmers to increase production, assuring them of a ready market. “We pick up this rice and market it to government institutions. We will also ensure timely payments to farmers,” Ms Anagwe said.
Mwea Rice Growers Manager Anthony Waweru, on his part, confirmed the promise by the government through KNTC to purchase the rice in store within 30 days.
“I can confirm from our discussions that they have promised that within a month they would have mopped up all what we have and payments shall be done within 30 days without delay,” Waweru said.
He thanked the government for supporting farmers and more so for availing the subsidised fertilisers.
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Source : Kenya News
