Yesterday, lorries and tractors queued for nearly a kilometre as they waited to deliver the grain at the Eldoret depot.
Farmers queuing outside the depot said they preferred to deliver their maize to the board because it was offering the highest price.
A survey showed that private millers such as Corn Products Company and Maize Milling Company were offering Sh1,180 and Sh1,175 a bag.
Unga, Eldoret Grains (Dola) and Mombasa Millers were paying Sh1,150, less a one per cent cess deduction.
A grower, Mr Isaac Liyali, praised the Government for setting the bench-mark price of Sh1,200 through NCPB last year. He said this had enabled farmers to break even, and they might make a profit this year as well.
"We expect a good harvest, but the current rains are worrying us because the maize can easily rot," he added.
Mr Liyali said the board had set high standards for grain deliveries, which might affect growers' earnings. Some of the conditions are moisture content of 13.5 per cent, foreign matter 1.0 per cent, broken maize 2.0 per cent, rotten, diseased and discoloured maize 2.0 per cent and other impurities 1.0 per cent, according to a notice from the management.
Last month, President Kibaki urged farmers in the region not to sell their maize to middlemen, arguing that the Government, through NCPB, would offer them a better price.
In the same month, Agriculture minister Kipruto Kirwa announced that the Government had set aside Sh3.7 billion this year for maize.
Source: The Nation
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