The Warehouse Receipting System will help deal with critical challenges farmers in the cereals sector have been facing including marketing and wastage during harvesting, the chairperson has said.
Jane Ngige asked farmers to adopt the new system that is part of an initiative that also seeks to improve productivity in agriculture.
“It is working very well in many other countries like South Africa and from studies it has been confirmed that it will be very useful to our farmers”, Ngige said.
She spoke in Eldoret during a series of meetings which the council held with farmers and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector to consult on the rollout of the WRS system.
Ngige noted the council will help farmers deal with the wastage they experience every year on the farms, during storage and marketing.
“We want to see how to improve productivity through storage facilities, aggregation and mainstreaming markets as well as quality assurance,” she said. The WRS has held meetings in Eldoret, Kitale and Nakuru on the rollout.
National Cereals and Produce Board managing director Joseph Kimote said they have sufficient facilities that will be used to ensure success of the new system.
Part of NCPB stores will be leased out to private entities that will be licensed by the Agriculture Food Authority to offer the service.
Kimote said under WRS farmers will be charged a monthly storage fee of Sh3 per 50kg bag of maize.
Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno who hosted the Warehouse Receipt System council members said they should extensively educate farmers on the system.
Under the new system, farmers will be allowed to store their produce in certified stores where they will be issued with a receipt that they can use as collateral to get loans or other financial assistance while they await to sell their produce at good prices.
Chemno welcomed the system, which he said would be of great help to farmers who have no sufficient storage for their produce.
He, however, asked the government not to force farmers into the system. “The cereal sector is now fully liberalised and different players can come in and that’s what the new concept is all about whereby farmers with no capacity to store their produce can use a certified store and get receipt that can be used to borrow money,” Chemno said.
Uasin Gishu executive for Agriculture Samuel Yego said the system has worked well in India and South Africa and expressed optimism that it will be of benefit to maize farmers in the county and the entire North Rift region.
“This is a new concept that is working well in India and South Africa and I believe my farmers will be getting the best prices,” Yego said.