Making of a more efficient and responsive National Cereals and Produce Board

A grain dryer.

Photo credit: NCPB

The certification of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) under the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System (QMS) comes at a time when it is undergoing reforms to make it more efficient and responsive to the needs of its customers.

The establishment of the National Food Reserves (NFR), entrenchment of the Food Balance Sheet committee and revamping of NCPB’s commercial trading activities, all call for efficiency in service delivery. This will be achieved and maintained under the ISO 9001:2015 governance.

The strengthening of governance structures and business process re-engineering at the NCPB have enabled the organisation to perform its mandate with minimal challenges. The Board is mandated to provide logistics support on food security issues on behalf of the Government and trade commercially in agricultural commodities. The implementation of ISO 9001:2015 is aimed at maintaining better resource management, reducing wastage, increasing operational efficiency and most importantly, enhancing customer service delivery.

NCPB is also critical to the implementation and success of the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) in the country. Therefore, it is important that all stakeholders come together to support the initiative.

Certification of NCPB stores under KS 2657 Standard was the first step towards raising standards in the maintenance of quality in grain management, which has now been affirmed by getting the ISO 9001:2015 certification. This is a monumental step in the improvement of standards in service delivery. Most importantly, the improved standards must be sustained towards serving Kenyan farmers and the nation more efficiently.

Indeed, the adoption of the ISO 9001:2015 standard is a commitment to continuous performance improvement. In doing so, NCPB is also committing to the Government’s agenda of enhancing food and nutrition security as well as boosting trade in agricultural commodities. 

The certification is in line with the new strategic direction the Board has charted for the period 2020 to 2023, aimed at improving its overall performance.

Stories on how NCPB is inching closer to achieving its vision of being “a trusted service provider in agricultural commodity trade and food security” are available in this downloadable PDF.