EDITORIAL: Address millers’ plea on maize importation

Editorials

EDITORIAL: Address millers’ plea on maize importation

Monday, May 4, 2020 21:57

By EDITORIAL

After agitating for weeks to be allowed to import maize, the State last week cut duty on the commodity, from 50 to between 10 and 14 percent but millers are not keen to take up the offer.

Bone of contention? Millers insist the April 20 to May 30 timeframe is too short for imports. Importers see high chances of their cargo arriving after the lapse of the import window, leaving them with expensive grain ahead of harvest time glut.

And sadly, there’s an iota of truth in the claim. In normal circumstances, it takes about two months between the time one places an order and the actual arrival of cargo at the Mombasa port. At this time of Covid-19 where most regulatory agencies maintain just a handful of staff on duty, millers argue that it could take up to 70 days to receive the consignment from South American markets such as Mexico.

That is what typically happens to a government that fails to plan its affairs properly. From as early as December, the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) board has been warning of impending shortage. But it took longer for a policy response, apparently because former Agriculture Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri would not readily agree with SFR board chairman Noah Wekesa on the country’s maize situation. The poor planning has now put the government in a catch-22 situation. If Kenya extends the import window, it risks distorting the market as arrival of low-duty maize will coincide with local harvests.

On the other hand, if it doesn’t order imports immediately, retail shelves will run out of maize flour at least 30 days to the harvesting. This is according to the official reports indicating that the country’s stock of grain fell to six million bags in April, and given the monthly consumption of three million bags, what we have can only last up to end of next month. Moreover, cross-border imports, through which Kenya has always plugged its shortage, are hard to come by given movement restriction in the wake of Covid-19.

The State should consider the plea by millers to extend the import window into June since the earliest the country expects the season’s harvests is August. Otherwise, insisting on a rigid timeframe is likely to lend credence to claims that consignment ordered by some well-connected merchants could be on the high seas already.