These are the functions of the National Cereals And Produce Board (NCPB). NCPB is a state corporation that was established in 1985 through an Act of Parliament (Cap 338) as the maize and produce board. It was formed by the amalgamation of the Maize and Produce Board and the Wheat Board on 1st July 1979, for the purposes of streamlining the management, handling and marketing of grains. NCPB’s key vision is to be a world-class corporation in agricultural commodity trade and grain management.
NCPB is governed by a Board of Directors responsible for ensuring that professional standards, systems and controls are put in place. The Board of Directors is also responsible for ensuring that key policies are formulated and implemented.
Functions and Mandate Of NCPB
1. Commercial commodity trading of grains, fertiliser and agro-chemical.
2. Provision of grain-related services such as pest control, warehousing, weighing, grading, bagging, aflatoxin texting, drying, clearing and forwarding at affordable rates.
3. Procurement and management of grain on behalf of the government on an agency basis to secure the strategic grain reserves (SGR) and famine relief stocks (FRS).
4. It provides logistics support services on food security issues.
5. Market intervention on behalf of the government for grains and farm inputs.
6. It regulates the collection, movement, storage, sale, purchase, transportation, marketing, processing, distribution, importation, exportation, disposal and supply of maize, wheat and scheduled agricultural produce.
7. It organizes and coordinates activities of the Food Balance Sheet Committee (FBSC).
8. It operates agricultural hub centres in select depots. These hubs act as one-stop shops which bring together farmers, agro-dealers, millers, grain traders, financial and insurance service providers, co-operatives, and other agricultural players.
Here is a list of all services offered by the National Cereals and Produce Board.
1. Pest Control Services
NCPB boasts of well trained and experienced personnel who offer fumigation services, spraying, termite and rodent control. Spraying is carried out to control pests on premises, structures and on surfaces of packed commodities.
2. Grading and Aflatoxin Testing
Grading services are offered in the entire NCPB’s network. The services are offered to farmers, millers and individuals in line with set standards by KEBS, for the purposes of ascertaining the grade of the produce.
3. Warehousing
NCPB features storage facilities that customers can access through contracts and payment of storage rent based on location and capacity. It features two types of storage facilities; Conventional stores for bagged grain and Silo bins for storage of naked grain.
4. Weighing Services
NCPB operates 40,60 and 80-tonne weighbridges in its depots and silos that are digital. It also has platform weighing scales of about 100-250 kg. It provides weighing services that give the accurate weight for different types of loads.
5. Cleaning and drying of grains
The board provides grain cleaning and drying services to customers, for the purposes of improving the grade of the grains by removing foreign matter and chaff.
6. Bagging Services
NCPB prides in the most up to date automatic state of the art bagging facilities. It offers the services at competitive rates to its clientele. Service locations include Eldoret, Bungoma, Nairobi grain silos, Nakuru, Kitale, Narok, Moi’s Bridge and Kisumu.
7. Clearing and Forwarding
The Board has the capacity to handle grain imports and exports in its clearing and forwarding section. It further offers warehousing storage for all imports and exports at competitive rates. Service locations include Mombasa, JKIA and all points of entry.
8. Distribution of subsidised fertiliser and seeds
NCPB procures and distributes subsidised fertiliser on behalf of the government.
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