Rice farmers decry lack of market for their produce as prices drop
Traders selling rice at Mwea Nice Rice Millers in Ngurubani town, Kirinyaga county.
The prices of Pishori rice in Mwea, Kirinyaga County has dropped from Sh180 per kilogramme to Sh140 in the past one month due increased supplies and lack of markets for the produce.
The drop is a blessing to consumers especially during the festive season when the cereal is highly consumed.
However, farmers have lamented over low prices and pleaded with the government to provide better market for their harvests.
A spot check by the Nation showed that famers and traders were holding huge stocks of rice.
But Mwea MP Mary Maingi has assured the growers that the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) will buy their rice which is lying in stores due to lack of market.
Ms Maingi said she had contacted the Ministry of Trade and that all the more than 400,000 bags of rice worth millions of shillings will be bought.
"I have been in constant communication with the Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria and he has assured me that all the rice belonging to farmers will be bought," she said.
Ms Maingi appealed to farmers to be patient saying none of their produce will go to waste.
"In fact the process of buying rice has already kicked off and there should be no cause for alarm," she told the press on Monday afternoon at Wang'uru in her constituency
She observed that farmers had a bumper harvest and the government must assist them to avoid losses.
Bags of rice worth millions of shillings lying at Mwea Rice Growers Multi-purpose Cooperative Society stores in Ngurubani town, Kirinyaga county due to lack of market.
Mwea Irrigation Scheme manager Innocent Ariemba said rice farming was doing well due to proper water management.
He stressed that production in the scheme which accounts for 80 per cent of rice consumed in the country is set to increase following the construction of the multi-billion Thiba dam at Rukenya in Gichugu.
Farmers had expressed fears that their produce might rot at Mwea Rice Growers Multipurpose Cooperative Society stores if the market is not found urgently.
Farmers said they had a bumper harvest and called on the government to buy their produce.
The society chairman Ndege Muriuki said the situation was ‘serious.’
" It is true we have so much rice in our stores which have not been sold and farmers may suffer if urgent measures are not taken," said Mr Muriuki.
The farmers had called on the government to intervene so that their rice does not go to waste.
Mr Ndege noted that the Kenya National Trading Corporation which was directed by the government to buy rice at Sh85 per kilogramme had kept away from the area.
"KNTC is not purchasing rice the way it used to do and farmers may suffer," he lamented.
In February, 2021, the government ordered that rice be bought at Sh85 per kilogramme up from Sh45 for farmers can make profits.
It instructed the KNTC to implement its directive with immediate effect.
KNTC bought rice for some time but later stopped, leaving the farmers without a reliable market.
Farmers rely on rice to feed and educate their children as well as to meet other financial obligations.
The farmers complained that brokers have returned to the scheme on learning that there was no market for rice.
"Brokers are here and they are offering to buy our rice at throwaway prices. They know that we are desperate and want to take advantage of the current situation in the scheme to exploit us," one of the farmers, Mr Amos Kareithi, said.
The farmers warned the government against importing rice.
" We have a lot of rice and the government should wait until we sell it before it allows imported one to flood the market," one of the farmers said.
Even as Mwea rice growers lack buyers for their produce, Kenyans in other parts of country are faced with hunger due to prolonged drought.
