{"id":145254,"date":"2026-06-30T10:02:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/govt-steps-in-to-clear-60000-bags-of-mwea-rice-before-new-harvest\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T10:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:02:49","slug":"govt-steps-in-to-clear-60000-bags-of-mwea-rice-before-new-harvest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/govt-steps-in-to-clear-60000-bags-of-mwea-rice-before-new-harvest\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt steps in to clear 60,000 bags of Mwea rice before new harvest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) will buy more than 60,000 bags of Mwea rice held by farmers as part of a Government intervention to clear stocks, ease storage pressure and improve farmers\u2019 cash flow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The exercise, being undertaken jointly by KNTC, the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) and farmers\u2019 cooperatives, comes as farmers prepare for another harvest while thousands of bags from the previous season remain in storage awaiting buyers.<\/p>\n

Speaking during an inspection tour in Mwea, AFA Acting Director General Calistus Kundu said the Government was committed to ensuring farmers have a reliable market for their produce as the country works to increase local rice production.<\/p>\n

KNTC Managing Director Lucy Anangwe who led the exercise said the corporation has committed to purchasing all locally produced rice currently held by cooperatives, with deliveries expected to continue until mid-August.<\/p>\n

The rice will later be distributed to public institutions across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to assess the situation on the ground and reassure farmers that the Government remains committed to supporting the marketing of locally produced rice. KNTC is fully committed to mopping up the rice produced by farmers,\u201d Anangwe said.<\/p>\n

The Mwea Rice Growers Multipurpose Cooperative Society, which represents more than 80 per cent of rice farmers in the region, currently holds more than 30,000 bags in storage and expects an additional 25,000 bags during the third crop season.<\/p>\n

Self-help groups are also holding more than 15,000 bags, bringing the total volume targeted under the programme to more than 70,000 bags.<\/p>\n

To fast-track the purchase and processing of the rice, KNTC and the cooperative have agreed on a schedule of at least two truckloads daily, while the milling plant will introduce a third shift to increase output to 56 tonnes of milled rice per day.<\/p>\n

The additional shift is expected to create more employment opportunities while speeding up the clearance of stored stocks.<\/p>\n

Mwea Rice Growers Multipurpose Cooperative Society Chief Executive Officer Anthony Waweru said delayed marketing had affected payments to farmers but expressed confidence the new arrangement would restore normal operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had expected to pay farmers earlier, but marketing challenges delayed the process. With KNTC now taking up the rice, we expect to clear the current stock within a month and begin paying farmers by July 20,\u201d Waweru said.<\/p>\n

The post Govt steps in to clear 60,000 bags of Mwea rice before new harvest<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) will buy more than 60,000 bags of Mwea rice held by farmers as part of a Government intervention to clear stocks, ease storage pressure and improve farmers\u2019 cash flow. The exercise, being undertaken jointly by KNTC, the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) and farmers\u2019 cooperatives, comes as farmers prepare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}