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: 16 March 2018; Hits: 14903

Flour companies urgently buying maize from all-comers

Unga Ltd and Pembe flour mills, the manufacturers of human and animal nutrition products such as fine maize flour are looking for farmers to supply them with dry maize on a daily basis.

The companies want maize with a moisture content of below 13.5 per cent and there is no limit to the amount to be supplied. The supply is based on a willing buyer, willing seller basis.

Unga Limited buys a 90kg of dry maize at Sh2400 while Pembe flour mills purchases the produce at Sh26.67 per kilo.

Markets open up to food solar drying project

Maize farmers bypass volatile markets, sell directly to millers

A farmer with produce can physically visit Unga Ltd offices or Pembe flour millers with a sample of their produce which will be analyzed and aflatoxin levels checked. The process of checking for the toxins takes about 20 minutes.

Alternatively for Unga Ltd, one can visit the company’s website http://ungagroup.com/suppliers/ and download four supplier forms and submit the information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The maize supplied should be free from foreign odors, moulds, live pests, rat droppings, toxic and noxious weed seeds.

Maize bag By the Star

A loader carries a 90kg bag of maize to the NCPB Eldoret in January 2018.

In January this year, the Cereal millers Association announced that they had no subsidized maize left in their stores. This was after a government subsidized maize program ended in December 2017.

Under the subsidy program, the Kenyan government through the ministry of agriculture sold maize millers a 90kg bag at Sh2300, the price being 42.5 per cent lower than the import price as the state settled the difference.

The millers received a total 6.7m bags during as from May 2017 to December 2017.

The shortage in maize supply to millers in Kenya is attributed to infestation by fall army worm and prolonged drought in 2017. This led to a decrease in production from an expected yield of 40m bags to about 32m bags yet the crop is a staple food crop accounting for 65 per cent of the total food consumption.

A study by Egerton’s University Tegemeo Institute conducted in 2017 revealed that Kenya faces a maize shortfall of five million bags as from April 2018, the onset of the long rains and the planting season. This means that millers face a severe shortage of maize for sustainable production.

In December 2017 and January 2018 maize farmers mostly in Kenya’s bread basket of the Rift Valley supplied their produce to the National Cereals Produce Board but a majority of them faced a delay in payment to date. Over two million bags have so far been delivered to NCPB. The Board is purchasing a 90kg bag at Sh3,200 a 6.25 per cent increase from last year’s Sh3,000.

Unga Ltd can be reached on +254 722 205 353/ +254 724 257 058/ +254 733 618 344/ +254
738 200 100 while Pembe Flour Mills can be reached on +254 20 2046407, +254 20 2161774 or +254 20 2161776

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: 16 March 2018; Hits: 10803

Government launches value addition project to market potato

potato farmer nyandarua

Frmer harvesting his potatoes. Farmers experience low potato yields due to poor seeds and lack of production skills. Photo: Raymond Jumah.

The government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Ireland has launched a project that will see over 800,000 potato smallholder farmers in Kenya benefit from potato value chain from planting to marketing enabling the farmers improve on their yields as well as avoiding post-harvest losses.

Out of the smallholder farmers 95 per cent experience low yields of 3-4 tonnes of potatoes per acre per season against 12-15 tonnes that they ought to produce within the same time and the same size of land should they get access to proper seeds, training and agronomical support.

“Our farmers produce less 63,600 tonnes consumer demand in Kenya due to bad soil, poor seeds and lack of production skills,” said Henry Koech, head of value chain at National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK).

Farmers have also suffered from poor selection of their potatoes after harvest by traders who leave out the smaller-sized potatoes which go to waste due to lack of market.

“In this project, farmers will be allowed to sell all their produce to the market which will be offered by the council and its partners,” said Koech.

Additionally the project is seeking to address soil testing, soil management, quality seeds and best seed multiplication among farmers.

“It is a basic knowledge in potato production that there should be four rotations before planting potato on the same piece of land something some farmers are not aware of, hence they end up producing low quality produce which most food companies do not accept.”

The project which was launched yesterday in Nyandarua County will include potato value addition in starch and animal feed production to meet the standards of the international markets the potato industry is eying.

In this project, the Ireland government will be offering expert services in the potato value chain among other activities to help address food insecurity challenges in the country.

“The aim of this project is to put more money into the pockets of farmers and help them access the knowledge in potato production and value chain management,” said Ireland Minister for Public Works, Kelvin Moran.

This project will further be extended to othe counties such as Nakuru, Bomet and West Pokot to help farmers face off outdated farming practices which has affected yields.

“The reason the project begins from Nyandarua County is because our farmers produce the biggest percentage of potatoes as compared to other counties which is at 33 per cent,” said Nyandarua County governor, Francis Kimemia.

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: 15 March 2018; Hits: 19466

New sunflower and soyabeans market opens up for Kenyan farmers

sunflower plants

Bidco is looking for thousands of farmer mainly young and women entrepreneurs to plant oil seeds that are used in the production of various cooking oil and other products.

In a partnership with the KCB Foundation at least 1,000 youths will access guaranteed oil seed markets and another will receive 1,500 internship opportunities.

Bidco also signed additional MoUs with the African Women Entrepreneurship Program AWEP and the Vision 2030 Youth Entrepreneurship Associates.

AWEP has a membership of 30,000 who will be mobilized to plant oil seeds for Bidco while the Vision 2030 group will engage 10,000 of their members every year for the next five years.

The partnership with KCB is part of KCB’s Sh50 billion 2Jiajiri programme will provide 1,000 entrepreneurs every year with training, technical support and market linkages.

KCB Foundation will do the technical capacity building and Bidco will provide a guaranteed market for the entrepreneurs’ products in its sunflower and soya value chains.

“As the private sector we have synergies to be shared through partnerships and collaborations as steps in helping the country develop economically and tackle the heavy burden of youth unemployment in the country,” said Jane Mwangi, the KCB Foundation Director.

Vimal Shah, the Chief Executive Officer at Bidco Africa Ltd said, “This is a partnership about empowerment. Farmers do not need handouts all they need is access to reliable markets and their lives are transformed. If we can convert farmers to agri-preneurs we will achieve the impact we need.”

Public Service, Youth and Gender Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki lauded the youth and women and said the two groups were critical in building a better sustainable Kenya.

“Even If you look at the SDG’s and how they are framed-the centrality of youth and women is unmissable. That is both our biggest opportunity and responsibility.”

Vimal revealed Bidco has the capacity to bring more farmers on board.

“We are operating at 50 percent capacity in terms of seed crushing. We need farmers. We need young people to step and take up the challenge. KCB are providing a platform for that and that makes it a win-win for everyone.”

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Monday, 22 February 2021 I wish to take up the challenge to

Wednesday, 23 September 2020 I wish to take up the challenge.