Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei on Sunday, November 20, expressed his reservations against plans by the government to import over 10 million bags of maize.
Cherargei argued that importation would affect Rift Valley farmers who are about to harvest their maize.
The outspoken senator added that the influx of genetically modified maize would affect the prices of maize in the country and subsequently lead to losses by farmers who had invested in farm inputs.
In addition, the vocal legislator noted that the importation was not timely, arguing that shortage of the grain in the country would be solved by the locally available products in the impending harvest.
“When we were planting maize we spent about Ksh7,000 on fertiliser per bag. The price of petrol was also high. Importing the maize will hurt maize prices in the country and our farmers will not get returns for their sweat,” Cherargei stated.
According to Cherargei, importing maize would demoralize maize farmers in the country and affect production in the future.
He further stated that elected leaders in the North Rift would convene a meeting to deliberate on the course of action with regard to the developing matter.
“It will demoralise our farmers. MPs from the Rift Valley region will be sitting with the two CSs by Tuesday to address this matter,” he added.
His remarks came days after Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria announced that his ministry had ratified the importation of genetically modified maize to deal with the shortage which translated into hiked prices of maize products.
However, the pronouncement was met with harsh criticism from different quarters with fears about the safety of the products being raised.
Opposition chief Raila Odinga on Sunday, November 20, criticized the move arguing that it would be an act of recklessness. Raila urged members of parliament to consider the matter over what he termed as a dangerous move to re-introduce GMOs.
“GMOs are dangerous to both human and animal lives and they have been banned in major European countries and Americas,” Raila stated.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE