Small-scale farmers are holding the bulk of this maize — about 13 million bags — while traders have about 3.3 million bags. The national cereals board, which is currently buying two million bags of maize, says farmers have stopped selling to it. By the time the window was shut, more than 10 million bags of maize had been brought into the country. NCPB CAPTUREA forensic audit also found that the government imported an extra four million bags above the six million bags that had been approved by an inter-ministerial committee. The NCPB says the country bought 3.6 million bags of maize in 2017/18, making it one of the biggest purchases in the past five years.

Source: Daily Nation April 17, 2019 06:33 UTC