No maize in the country, maize available contains Aflatoxin -CS Peter Munya

A Mother feeding his kids in the Rural Kenya. FILE

Cost of food(Ugali) is expected to go up from next week following lack of maize in the stores.

CS Agriculture Peter Munya says there is no food in the stores for human consumption. The maize in the stores contains Aflatoxin.

The revelation comes amid the fight against Coronavirus, Floods, Landslides and Desert locusts pandemic.

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Mr Munya told the Senate Agriculture Committee that all the maize under the strategic grain reserves has been contaminated by aflatoxin, harmful and cancer-causing fungi, making them unfit for human consumption.


Mr Munya’s revelation comes just a month after the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) chairman Dr Noah Wekesa warned that the country was facing a crippling food shortage.


“We asked the ministry to hasten the restocking of the national reserves, but did not get a response. Now, we have no reserves in the stores,” Dr Wekesa said in March.


CS Munya came under fire following the revelation that thousands of bags of maize at the government’s strategic food reserve are set to be destroyed.


The CS who appeared before the committee chaired by Senator Njeru Ndwiga said the government does not have any maize stocks in its stores since whatever is available is bound for disposal.


“We don’t have any stocks in the strategic reserves. What is there is unfit for consumption and will be given to cement manufacturers to be used as fuel,” Mr Munya said.