A delegation comprising of Members of the National Assembly, business people and farmers from the Rift Valley are pushing to meet President Uhuru Kenyatta over maize pricing. According to reports, the group is pushing for the meeting to take place before Deputy President William Ruto returns from his Italy visit.
The delegation reportedly already prepared a formal proposal to the state demanding that Kshs 1,000 be transferred from the fertilizer subsidy to elevate the maize price per bag. In case the proposal sails through, a single 90kg would be acquired for Kshs 3,200 from the current Kshs 2,300.
Kshs 2,300 price per bag was settled on by the cabinet in a meeting chaired by President Uhuru with DP Ruto also in attendance. Appearing before that National Assembly’s Parliamentary Committee earlier, Agriculture CAS Andrew Tuimur explained that raising maize price from the current would not possibly happen since it had been ratified by the Cabinet.
He subsequently affirmed, during another appearance in Parliament on Thursday, that the price was fair and that all parameters had been considered before the decision. He further explained that the ministry found the cost of production to have been Ksh 1,539 per 90 kg bag which made the kshs2,300 very profitable for the farmers.
The DP had recently been at loggerheads with three MPs from the region, Alfred Keter, Joshua Kuttuny and Silas Tiren, who demanded more pay for the farmers. DP Ruto was advocating for diversification of crops in the region.