Mwea Farmers call on Government to buy surplus stock

Rice farmers in Mwea, Kirinyaga County, are staring at losses of more than 500 million shillings if the government fails to intervene and purchase five thousand metric tones of the grain in their stores. The farmers who are usually busy on farms during this period, planting for next season, say they are yet to receive payment from Mwea Rice Growers Multipurpose Cooperative Society, where they take their produce. The society that used to sell the bulk of the rice to the government through KNTC says the amount purchased has reduced with the government allowing the importation of rice, which has flooded the market.