KENYA – Kenya’s National cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has entered into a partnership deal with the Agro-processors Association of Kenya (APAK) to enhance grain management and value addition services in the country.

According to reports by the Daily Nation, the partnership provides a framework to enable efficient use of grain handling and storage facilities as well as promote grain quality testing especially for aflatoxin and fumigation.

“But the most important notion in the partnership is to add value to Kenyans, promote food and nutrition security and achieve the aspirations as per the Big 4 Agenda on food security,” said NCPB managing director Joseph Kimote.

The deal is also in line with the governments plans of restructuring of the National Cereals Board (NCPB) and the Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund (SFRTF) to make them efficient and autonomous.

“We believe and are sure this partnership will benefit our members, helping them to plan ahead and protect themselves from future price fluctuations and instabilities which could affect their business.”

Anthony Ndirangu – Agro-processors Association of Kenya chairman

Being blamed for distorting the market and crowding out the private sector, the board will lose at least 25 per cent of its more than 100 stores to enable participation of the private sector and creating an efficient and competitive market for agricultural produce.

APAK chairman, Anthony Ndirangu said, “We believe and are sure this partnership will benefit our members, helping them to plan ahead and protect themselves from future price fluctuations and instabilities which could affect their business.”

NCPB partners with EAGC

Meanwhile, the cereals board has also signed another agreement with the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) to boost the quality of cereals.

Gerald Masila, executive director of EACG, said that the agreement will also enhance market access and food security in the region.

“This engagement framework anchors on the need to promote more trade and better trade in safe food between Kenya and the region.”

The two organizations will spearhead adoption and utilization of the harmonized East Africa standards for food and nutrition safety.

This comes at time when concerns and warnings of unsafe levels of aflatoxin in several well-known brands of maize flour and peanut-butter in Kenya were in the recent-past were reported by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS).

Mr Kimote, said that the agreement signifies a joint commitment and reflects a shared vision to ensure consistent implementation of EAC standards while suppressing post-harvest losses.

EAGC promotes structured trading system through the warehouse receipting systems and regional grain trading platform, while NCPB is Kenya’s state corporation that trades commercially in grains, provides grain post-harvest services, deals in fertilizer and other farm inputs like seeds, and offers clearing and forwarding services.

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