Cereal Growers Association (CGA) Chairman Nahson Ngetich on Spice FM.[Screengrab]
Kenya is facing a food crisis driven by an inefficient market and too few investors, Cereal Growers Association (CGA) Chairman Nahson Ngetich has warned.
Speaking on Spice FM on Thursday, August 13, Ngetich said aflatoxin levels in maize on the market were alarmingly high, adding that Kenyans were more concerned about food security than food sovereignty.
Kenya’s legal aflatoxin limit is 10 parts per billion, while the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation told a World Food Safety Day forum in June that some cereal samples had tested as high as 500 parts per billion.
Ngetich called for the reintroduction of agricultural extension officers to guide farmers during the planting season, particularly on liming, crop rotation, seed varieties and fertiliser use.
“We, the farmers, are to blame. We should ask for field officers to be there, ask county governments in the maize-producing regions that we need field officials,” he said.