Kenya raises maize buying price to KES 4000 as market tightens
The revised price is higher than what most farmers received during the last harvest.
KENYA – Maize farmers across Kenya have welcomed a sharp increase in farm-gate prices after the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) announced a new buying price of KES4,000 (US$26.5)per 90 kg bag of Grade 1 and 2 maize.
The adjustment comes months after producers sold much of their crop at lower prices, offering belated relief in a season marked by rising production costs and tight household finances.
The revised NCPB price is notably higher than what farmers received during the peak of the 2024 harvest, when maize traded at between KES3,000 and KES3,500 (US$20–US$23) per bag.
According to Kenya Farmers Association chairman Kipkorir Menjo, current open market prices in parts of the North Rift have already risen to between KES3,800 and KES4,000 (US$25–US$26.50) per bag , narrowing the gap between government and private sector buyers.
Food security expert Timothy Njagi from the African Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes said the new price is likely to shape how farmers choose to market their grain, but warned that NCPB may still struggle to attract volumes if private traders remain competitive at the farm gate.
“This dynamic has been observed before, with farmers sometimes opting to sell to traders rather than deliver to NCPB depots, particularly when board payments are perceived to be slow or cumbersome,” Njagi noted.
Many small-scale farmers had already cleared their stocks earlier in the season to meet immediate financial obligations. Menjo said this means only limited quantities are now available to take advantage of the higher prices.
“At harvest we were forced to sell at about KES3,200 just to pay debts. If this price had come earlier, we wouldn’t have made losses.” ,” said John Kiptoo, a maize farmer from Moiben in Uasin Gishu county who still has 120 bags in storage.
Despite the higher maize price, analysts do not expect an immediate increase in retail maize flour prices.
Njagi explained that millers are still processing stocks from last year’s main harvest, while short-rains production from Western, Central and parts of Eastern Kenya is supporting near-term supply.
Historically, maize prices tend to rise between January and May, peaking just before the next harvest as stored supplies tighten.
To cushion consumers, the government has expanded market interventions in recent years. In 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture released 200,000 bags of maize from the National Strategic Grain Reserve to registered millers at subsidised rates to stabilise unga prices.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has maintained that strategic reserves will be deployed when required and that regional imports under the East African Community framework remain an option if domestic supply weakens.
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