Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has directed millers to purchase all the 400,000 bags of unsold locally grown wheat before seeking import permits. This directive seeks to resolve an ongoing standoff pitting wheat farmers and millers in the country over pricing and procurement.

CS Kagwe has imposed a moratorium on wheat imports, allowing imports only if a supply deficit arises. The government, under the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), plans to issue C60 import licences to 21 millers under the Cereal Millers Association (CMA) only after all local wheat has been absorbed.

Speaking after a meeting with the two parties, CS Kagwe urged farmers not to accept lower prices and sell their wheat only at the agreed rates.

"Millers will now purchase 400,000 unbought bags before receiving import licences, ensuring farmers get the agreed KES5,300 for Grade 1 and KES5,200 for Grade 2 wheat," the CS said.

CS Kagwe’s resolution was arrived at after a day-long meeting between stakeholders in the sub-sector and the millers at Kilimo House on Wednesday and follows a series complaint from wheat farmers in Narok, Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, and other counties over millers neglecting to buy their produce or purchasing it at unfairly low prices. This is despite the existence of a binding agreement between the two warring parties, and set prices for wheat.

"We demand that the stalled local wheat be bought within a week, those millers importing wheat must stop importing until we have cleared the stock from local farmers," said Narok Governor Patrick Ntutu, who has been advocating for better wheat prices.

The Ministry also revealed that a total shipment of 260,000 bags imported by the millers is lying at the Port of Mombasa, and attracting a demurrage fee of US$0.3 cents per tonne per day. A total of 1.3 million bags have been bought so far.

Furthermore, the CS announced that a new Wheat Sector Standing Committee will be established to enforce compliance and restore trust in the industry.  It will be made up of officers from the Ministry, CMA, CGA, NCPB, AFA, Counties and farmers. 

This committee aims to restore trust in the tripartite agreement signed in 2010 between the CMA and CGA, with the government being the guarantor, in order to have millers buy wheat at mutually agreed prices while at the same time protecting the interests of farmers at all costs. 

It will also enforce compliance with the local wheat purchase program, which obliged millers to purchase locally before they can qualify for the 10 percent duty remission scheme under the East African Community (EAC) rules, and get their import allocation quota.

Notably, the CS implored the committee to leverage on technology to curate reliable data, restore credibility, accountability and transparency in the sector, as this will lead to better incomes for farmers’ incomes, and achieve food and nutrition security, when developing its terms of reference.

Additionally, one of the committee’s goals to be gazetted by the Ministry is to halt the decline in local production, which has fallen to 8 percent of the annual consumption of 26 million bags.

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