NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 2 – The government is set to implement the Warehouse Receipt System Act, 2019, that establishes a well regulated trading system for agricultural commodities that links buyers and sellers.
Speaking during a press conference at State House Nairobi, President William Ruto stated that the system creates an ecosystem with opportunities for the private sector and the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) to provide a trading platform that links buyers and sellers.
He stated that it will further facilitate access to credit by agricultural producers.
“The Warehouse Receipt System also supports the reduction of post-harvest losses and cushions farmers against low farm-gate prices,” he stated.
President Ruto opined that the move is aimed at striking out brokers and middle men in the agricultural sector that deprive farmers off their hard earned profits.
”We are also maximizing farmer returns from their produce by likewise removing brokers, middlemen, conmen and other intermediaries, as well as other perennial marketing challenges related with cereals and pulses,” he stated.
The president expressed optimism that this system will roll out clear guidelines and structures for the trading of agricultural produce in the country.
“This system creates an ecosystem with opportunities for the private sector and NCPB to provide a trading platform that links buyers and sellers, and facilitates access to credit by agricultural producers,” he added.
The head of state revealed that the warehouse system set to be introduced supports the reduction of post-harvest losses thus cushions farmers against low farm-gate prices.
This is part of the reforms president William Ruto has lived up to even as the Kenya kwanza administration moves in to streamline the agricultural sector which the head of state says has for a long time been riddled in brokering.
Other reforms instituted by president William Ruto include scaling up find allocation for the Agricultural Finance Corporation, proposition to retire the subsidizing consumption in favor of subsidizing production as well as scaling down of fertilizer prices.
