james wika 
- NCPB to Mop Up 321,000 Wheat Bags from Farmers to Address the Market Crisis
The Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Sen.Mutahi Kagwe has resolved the wheat crisis where farmers were stranded with 321,000 bags of wheat after harvest.
The CS has directed that all farmers and aggregators to deliver their stock to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) from tomorrow morning.
The CS also announced that payments to farmers will take place within 30 days after delivery to the warehouses across the country which will be done by NCPB.
In a memorandum of understanding to be signed between the NCPB and the Millers, the wheat from the NCPB will be collected by millers and payments done within 14 to 21 days.
In addition, a stern warning has been issued to those who would want to hijack the resolutions to address the crisis by delivering imported wheat to the NCPB as they will be arrested for sabotaging the process.
The CS spoke after a meeting to address challenges faced by farmers at his office at Kilimo house attended by the Principal Secretary Dr.Paul Ronoh ,NCPB MD Samuel Karogo, Agriculture and Food Authority DG Dr.Bruno Linyiru, Agriculture Secretary Collins Marangu, Agricultural Cereals Millers Association(CMA) led by its Chief Executive Officer Paloma Fernandez and vice chair Beju Shah and also the Cereal Growers Association(CGA) led by its CEO Anthony Kioko.
The CS expressed his intentions to reduce the importation of wheat by ensuring local farmers produce from the current 8% to above 40% demand by Millers.
The move to have NCPB collect wheat from farmers also gives a data base that will be used to issue subsidized fertilisers which further reduce the cost of production hence more profits.
