Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi has presided over the launch of a new aflatoxin testing laboratory at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot in North Imenti, Meru County.
Linturi said that the new facility, the first of its kind in the region, was aimed at ensuring that the grains being consumed were free of aflatoxin to prevent ailments such as Cancer which has been prevalent in the area.
“Meru leads this country in cases of cancer. Scientific research has shown that there is a connection between Cancer and the consumption of contaminated foods that have toxins like aflatoxin. As a government, we want to ensure that Kenyans get safe food. We want to ensure that anybody who sells maize for milling maintains the required moisture levels,” he said.
He noted that the government’s ambition to achieve food security had been a great success as farmers’ yields had increased drastically, hence the need to provide proper food testing and storage for safety and food security.
“We are now at another phase because we want to produce 80 million bags of maize this year over 60 million that was produced last year. We want to exceed our national consumption average of maize. As we continually distribute fertilizer in the North Rift and South Rift, we will support our farmers who are harvesting to ensure the crop is properly dried and stored,” he said.
Linturi noted that the cost of drying a 90 kg bag of maize was Ksh150, but it had been reduced to Ksh70 to incentivize the farmers.
“We only charge Ksh10 for storage which is used to run the depot. The minimal fee is just to keep the institution running because we cannot operate without power or fumigation,” he said.
Also in attendance were Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) Chairman Joseph Eruaki and Meru Assembly Speaker Ayub Bundi.
The CS and Tigania West MP John Mutunga also launched the construction of another cereals store at Kianjai to serve farmers in the northern parts.
Mutunga said that they expect the store to be completed in the next few months to ease the storage burden on farmers in the area.
By John Majau
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