Internal audit revealed it’s holding maize worth billions of shillings unfit for human consumption.
The National Cereals and Produce Board has been hit with yet another scandal after an internal operational audit revealed that it was holding maize worth billions of shillings that is unfit for human consumption.
Following the disclosure, agriculture experts and farmers have demanded a quality assessment be conducted on 984,102 bags of maize estimated at Sh3.1 billion, even as the NCPB management dismissed claims that the produce in Kisumu, Moi’s Bridge and Bungoma silos was contaminated with aflatoxin.
Private millers in North Rift and Western Kenya region have joined in the fray, arguing that most maize delivered to the NCPB stores was of low quality due to the high Rotten Discoloured Damaged (RDD) ratio and they were reluctant to buy it for milling.
“Forensic audit and testing needs to be done to know if maize in the NCPB stores contains aflatoxin due to improper handling process,” said Mr Kipkorir Menjo, the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA) director.
A report tabled by acting NCPB Managing Director Joseph Liguko in Parliament early this week showed that 1,551,027 bags of maize bought at Moi’s Bridge depot and 220,358 bags bought at the Kisumu silos were moulding, with high heat and insect damage.
The 1.8 million bags of maize are in 50-kilogramme bags, but the State bought 90-kilogramme bags at Sh3,200 each from the farmers.
Farmers and millers in the North Rift observed that most maize imported by brokers from Uganda was delivered to the three silos without undergoing any rigorous quality checks.
“The cartels were allowed to deliver the imported maize produce with high moisture content loaded on trucks and they were not vetted due to their ‘influence’,” added Mr Menjo.
But the cereals board has maintained that proper measures were put in place following the internal audit report that revealed that maize delivered to the three silos had high moisture content and was at risk of getting damaged due to moulding with high heat.
“The maize was dried and aeration done after our internal audit revealed that some of the produce had developed moulds at the top and there should be no cause for alarm,” Mr Titus Maiyo, the board’s corporate affairs manager, told the Sunday Nation.
He said the board was carrying out quality assessment of maize in its stores countrywide.
“It is true that the Moi’s Bridge, Kisumu and Bungoma silos received the highest quantity of maize and part of it did not meet required standards but corrective measures were later put in place,” added Mr Maiyo. https://mobile.nation.co.ke/business/Audit-reveals-cereals-board-received-Sh3bn-toxic-maize/1950106-4628338-1xmkip/index.html