NAIROBI: The government will be forced to regulate the cost of maize flour if millers fail to reduce prices following a drop in energy and fuel costs in the country.
This is according to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei who says the cost of production dropped but millers were still exploiting customers.
Speaking at the Port of Mombasa during the flagging off of 25,000 tonnes of fertilizer, Koskei urged millers to be reasonable and revise the cost of the commodity downwards.
“The government will take necessary actions. We have to step in and come out clearly on the cost of production versus the prices,” Koskei said.
Addressing the media, Koskei said the current 2 kilogram packet of maize flour should retail at Sh75 from the current range of Sh80 to Sh100 adding that reduced cost of power should translate into cheaper goods and services for consumers.
“We are still urging them to be reasonable enough, to seat down with the consumers and to ensure that whatever gains they are getting on the other side of supply, they need also to pass it on to the consumers,” the CS insisted.
In the last fuel review, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) cut down pump prices by up to Sh9 which is the highest decrease in the last four years.
Meanwhile, the CS said the government has allocated Sh7.5 billion for importation of subsided fertilizers for farmers to increase food production in the country adding that a total of 150,000 metric tonnes of fertilizers will be procured this year.
He said farmers across the country will start accessing subsidised fertilizer as soon as this weekend, after 25,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer was discharged at the port of Mombasa on Thursday.
The Diamunium Phosphate (DAP) type of fertilizer packed in fifty kilograms bags will be sold at Sh1,800 up from Sh2,000.
