i have 10 sacks of maize which rougly cost me roughly 15000 from planting to harvesting b4 paying myself since i also laboured in that shamba.
Now theyre buying mkebe moja @50bob translating to ksh2000 per sack. i hear brokers brought millions of bags from outside kenya n sold to ncpb who now have surplus. where will an ordinary kenyan ever help himself. i am not stupid. i n my fellow enlightened farmers just quit farming maize. lets also be importing not only toothpicks but also maize… yeah its good for trade imbalance.
I didnt choose to be a farmer i found myself.I scored a stong B plain in my kcse bt since then the universities could only absorb only 10000 freshers and 20000 parallel students! i ended up in the cold.wish Matiangi came earlier. Tried to join forces they asked for money.applied to Kmtc for all manner of courses they didnt consider me. i dont know where they threw my applications. Am not proud of Kenya coz we, who became “Nobodies” are suffering…
hebu niulize tu…ulikuwa unakuza mahindi uuze wapi?
Well, there is creative thinking.
With that 15k you could have bought a mini laptop. Learned a skill especially web design or blogging.
Most business nowadays require websites for their online presence. How about making atleat $500 a week at your bedsitter in Wendani?
anywhere the price is better. buyers in our areas also sell to millers. millers now are getting from ncpb cheaply. why buy from local sellers at a higher price?
iza hio 10 sacks zilitoka kwa what size of land?
you see, the government is not supposed to come into your business and ideally should leave the situation to market forces…tafuta principal wa shule karibu anunue; they buy at better prices.
Find a way to store it for a few months then go for the kill when there is shortage.
7 acres…surprised?am from central not riftvalley n there was rain shortage!
The only way to make money from growing maize ni kukuza ya ngombe like i do. Iweke kwa silage and feed it to the cows. You get atleast 30 litres a day from one cow. Mimi hulima 10 hectares every season.
waah! that was a poor harvest. hapo Budspencer na 1776 watashangaa sana
What about the grains?
The profit margin may not be what you had hoped to earn from the harvest, but, hujaenda loss. Uza ama uiweke poa hadi siku bei itapanda…
Global white maize price is $10 (Kshs 1000) a 90Kg bag. That’s why even S.Africa, UG, Tz and Malawi imported maize is still cheaper than Kenya where NCPB buys at 3000 a 90Kg bag. NCPB bought 2 million bags from farmers. 3 times the global price as subsidies. Farmers also get subsidies fertilizers and seeds. Private millers buy at the farmers for 1500 or import from neighbouring countries since Kenya remain a liberal market forces driven economy.
Farmers need to adapt more than complain. Since 2000, Ministry of Agriculture and several private sector players have been trying to educate farmers to shift with the times but most still remain adamant. In the same shamba do crop rotation. Beans, carrots, vegetables, sunflower and fruits. You will harvest daily, weekly and monthly. The income will grow by 1000% even for a 1/4 acre shamba. If your shamba is doing less than 15 bags an acre quit maize. The nutritional value of the soil is down, you will need more and more fertilizers every year. Do organic rotational farming and prosper. The market for those crops start right from the gate. They will come when you harvest.
Forget abt the subsidized fertilizer you itumbi and the rest purport to give us. yeah its ksh.1800 per bag but why do u make it so inconvinient for us to get it. you go for an average of 3 trips to ncpb depot in your area to get it. for me fare to the depot is @200 per day. for 3 days its 600. its better i buy from a local shop @ 2800 a bag.the queues at any ncpb are very long at any given time n ur not sure utapata. then here comes a connected man with a pickup anabeba 50 bags saa hio mkiangalia…!
You pick what you like, its not forced. At NCPB its easier to enforce the price not to go above the subsidies price. NCPB is not there to make money from it but to distribute it. If private shops are allowed to distribute it then it can be hoarded, repackaged or the price increased if the line is too long. Hiyo ukora atutaki.
silage maize you chop everything…actually it is recommended you harvest it when the grains have “milk”.
@sunnymango I’m in the cereals business and true there is a lot of bias when it comes maize farmers out of the rift valley. Fika NCPB ya Wote or even Nyandarua, the managers claim hawana pesa ya kununua maize yet there are maize farmers in all these areas. Its rumoured that its the reason Pres. Uhuru appointed CS Kiunjuri to correct these wrongs.
Enyewe majority of educated young people in Kenya are disillusioned. The system is designed to benefit only a few who have money and connections. i foresee big problems in the near future.
you harvest silage maize when still milky, its the most nutritious part.
:D:D:D