Agriculture CS Peter Munya has said the regulations that will guide the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS), have been put out in the public to undergo validation.
The WRS require farmers to store their maize in secure warehouses, be issued with a receipt and wait for the the right price to sell their agricultural commodities. The system, part of a raft of reforms promoted under H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta and being implemented by CS Munya, will lead to higher earnings for farmers, traders and all involved in the cereal value chain, without necessarily tying public money in an inefficient and opaque system that involved the State buying the maize through the National Cereals & Produce Board
Public participation is a major legal requirement for the government to undertake for the process to be tested and owned by the public. CS Munya appealed to the public to make their views on the regulations known.
Mrs. Jane Ngige the Chair Warehouse Receipt System Council, says that consultations, dialogue and feedback between the Regulations Working Group and various stakeholders in National and County Governments as well as private sector has given rise to the Draft Regulations 2020. The regulations specify procedures, roles, responsibilities of all actors in the System.
Ngige has urged all stakeholders and value chain actors to propose improvements to fill any gaps in the draft regulations so that a comprehensive clear and practical document can be obtained.
“Council in partnership with stakeholders is at advance stage of implementing a pilot WRS for the October maize harvest. A total of 58 National Cereals and Produce Board Warehouses have been identified as suitable for WRS,” says the Chair.
Among others, the draft regulations propose that an application for a warehouse operator’s license shall be made to the County Executive Committee Member of a County Government. The County Executive Committee Member shall, upon being satisfied that the applicant meets the requirements for the issuance of a license, require the applicant to provide a performance bond equivalent to ten per-cent of the value of the commodity that the applicant predominantly stores or intends to store in the warehouse.
You can download the regulations here
