Economist David Ndii has taken president Uhuru Kenyatta head-on following his directive that the Ministry of Agriculture should increase the price of unprocessed rice from Sh45 to Sh85 per kilogramme following complaints from farmers.
David Ndii termed Uhuru’s directive as ‘roadside declarations’ stating that the move would disrupt the cost of production of rice in the country in effect making the sector unsustainable.
“These are called roadside declarations. I hope he knows what he is talking about because farmers are paid for paddy, not rice. (takes 1.6kg of paddy to get a kg of rice). 85/= that would translate to Sh136 per kg of rice” read David's tweet.
Speaking at Wang'uru Stadium in Kirinyaga County on Saturday, Uhuru told the CS to ensure that unprocessed rice prices are increased to enable farmers make profits.
This comes after several complaints that cheap rice from Pakistan had invaded the market as well as invasion of the Mwea Irrigation Scheme by brokers.
President Kenyatta announced that the government has set aside Sh500 million as revolving fund to buy rice from farmers