Posho mills get cheap State maize to curb costly flour

Posho mill operators will get 15 percent of the over two million bags of maize to be released by the National Cereals and Produce Board to check the rising cost of flour.

This was agreed in a last minute deal between the Ministry of Agriculture and the operators to be included in the programme.

The deal had previously been reserved for registered small scale millers under the umbrella of United Grain Millers and their large scale counterparts.

The move implies that the posho mill operators will get 390,000 bags of maize as a fraction of 2.6 million bags to be released from the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR).

“It was agreed that they also get part of the consignment given that they serve a significant proportion of the society,” said an official from Kilimo House.

Large scale millers, who operate under Cereal Millers Association, have a milling capacity of over 100 tonnes a day but only serves 30 percent of the country’s population.

On the other hand, small scale millers and posho mills account for the 70 percent of the population in the country.

The Government agreed with millers two weeks ago to release at least three million bags of maize from the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) at Sh2,300 to curb the rising cost of flour.