rice farming

RICE FARMING. JANE MUGAMBI 23RD AUGUST 2013. Principal Secretary Ministry of agriculture Cecily Kariuki has said illegal importation of rice in Mwea will be a past ones the government comes up with a policy. Speaking during a tour to Kirinyaga County on Thursday, she said that stopping of rice imports will bring sanity in the rice market in Mwea. Ms. Kariuki added that disorganization that has been there has made rice farmers anguish in the market since it is liberalized. “My visit is to make sure that I get the ailing issues in rice farming, my discussion with the governor will bear fruits ones a policy has been formulated on controlling the price and importation of substandard rice” said Kariuki. She said that her ministry is seriously concerned by disorganized nature of rice marketing in the country but she was quick to point out that her ministry is addressing the issue. She said that Rice farming has to be taken seriously citing that 60% of rice that is consumed in the country comes from Mwea where adulteration has to be stopped. Ms Muriuki said that the matter of rice import and counterfeiting needs government effort but she was quick to point out that her ministry was aware of the problem saying that she has decided to face the problem head on and come with a lasting solution. “We have decided to come on the ground and engage with all stakeholders we understand the issues and be able to come up with interventions that are going to help our farmers”. She said. She revealed that the government through donor support has initiated a couple of programs to support rice farming in the expansive Mwea irrigation scheme. She assured farmers that the programs and projects that have already been initiated by national government will proceed as planned noting that national government will continue to maintain engagement with county government. “Importation, counterfeits come with intervention that will support in food security so as to improve their livelihoods” she added. Mwea rice irrigation scheme in Kirinyaga County produce 80% of rice consumed in the country 110,000 metrics tons. However unscrupulous business takes the opportunity to flood the market with cheap rice which affects farmers market. Kirinyaga governor Joseph Ndathi revealed that the agricultural sector has been allocated 109 million shillings that will be channeled in boosting various agriculture projects. He lamented that the 2.8 billion shillings allocated to County government is very low revealing that 243 million shillings will revert to the national government to cater for grants and loans of ongoing projects in the County. “As a County we reserved 109 million shillings for agricultural sector, as you can appreciate Kirinyaga County we received a budget allocation of 2.8 billion shillings which is too low for many projects we are planning to initiate”. Ndathi said. Ndathi urged the government to deal with rice market problem decisively so that farmers can be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors. ends... 0723321326