Dairy farm**s protest over pay delay

Farmers in Ol Jabet, Laikipia county have accused New KCC of failing to pay for  their milk delivery for the last four months.

The farmers told the Senate Agriculture Committee led by Kirinyaga Senator Kamau Murango that this has forced their children to drop out of school because of lack of fees.

The Committee was in the area to collect information on the alleged fake fertilizer that farmers were supplied from the National Cereals and Produce Board  (NCPB) stores in Nyahururu.

A dairy farmer, Paul Njoroge Mutoru, said people who had abandoned private milk processors for New KCC after the President promised better milk prices by the state supported milk processor had not been paid since last December and were now going back to the private processors where they were sure to be paid for milk delivered.

 “New KCC has made us hopeless by not paying for milk delivered since December,” he said adding that the farmers have sunk further into poverty after losing money in the fake fertilizer scandal.

Marmanet MCA Simon Kanyutu said the issue of fake fertilizer was real.

 “Farmers in my ward have been supplied with fake fertilizer. We demand that the person who allowed the fake input to get into government stores be exposed and charged,” the MCA said.

 The Laikipia County assembly independent MCA told the Senate Committee to alert the President about existence of people in his government who schemed to bring down the Kenya Kwanza administration by oppressing people.