Cereal Growers Association (CGA) will now represent its farmer members in the maize task-force. This follows the appointment of CGA Chairman Stephanus Kruger into the task-force. This was through an official Gazette Notice number 11710 issued on 8th of November 2018. The task-force was put together by Agriculture CS Hon. Mwangi Kiunjuri. It has been charged with the mandate to review and make recommendations on the recurrent production, post-harvest and marketing challenges in the maize value chain.
Kruger is also a farmer in Moiben, Uasin Gishu County.
Kruger’s appointment presents a great opportunity for CGA to table the voice of our farmer members. The team comprises of representatives from key institutions in the maize sector. The institutions are the Council of Governors, Strategic Food Reserve, Senate, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation, Office of the Attorney-General, Millers and Research institutions.
The members have been meeting on a weekly basis with top on their agenda being the review of the current pains in maize industry. The task-force is expected to take an in-depth review of emergent challenges in the maize sector and make recommendations. After the recommendations, the task force will also be required to develop an implementation work-plan and budget aimed at enhancing the maize sector in the long run.
As an organization that represents farmers, we are optimistic that the task force will deal with glitches surrounding the maize value chain once and for all.