The Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK) has promised to pay arrears of sh.45 million owed to farmers' countrywide as soon as the treasury released the funds.
The PBK chairman Solomon Boit said the Minister for Agriculture, William Rutto had promised to pay the arrears as soon as the Financial Appropriation Bill is passed by the Parliament to allow the treasury to release the money.
Boit said the arrears owed to farmers were for the financial year 2008/2009.
Speaking in Kinungi area in Naivasha during a farmers meeting yesterday, Mr.Boit urged the farmers to step-up the production of pyrethrum crop in order to meet the growing demand for the pyrethrin chemical in the world market.
"We have a large demand for the pyrethrin in U.S.A, Europe, and Australia among other countries and we have to meet this demand or risk losing this market ", Boit said.
The PBK chairman said other countries like China, Tanzania and Rwanda were stepping up their pyrethrum farming and could soon overtake Kenya as a world leader in pyrethrum production.
"If we lose this market we have, we will never get it again", Boit told the farmers.
Speaking during the same function the PBK Managing Director, Dr. Isaac Mulagoli urged the farmers to be patient as the new board which was inaugurated in August this year sorts out the challenges facing PBK.
"We inherited a PBK that was in the intensive care unit but now the factory at Nakuru is back into operation for the last two months and is currently processing 103 tonnes of flowers delivered from July this year", Mulagoli said.
He promised the farmers that the new board will give them prompt payment for the flowers delivered to the factory and observed that pyrethrum production in the country had reduced from 12,000tonnes in 2007 to 754 tonnes in 2008.
Mulogoli announced that the Government had given his board Sh. 5 million for production of pyrethrum seedlings at the Molo nursery in order to meet the growing demand for seedlings by farmers.
He noted that over 20 million seedlings of the pyrethrum crop will be planted this rain season.
He promised that the board in consultation with the buyers of pyrethrum crop will review the price of the crop which has remained static since 2001.
During the meeting the MD promised to pay all the farmers countrywide Sh. 14 million for the 103 tonnes of pyrethrum delivered from July this year by end of November and gave out Cheques of 40% advance payment for the same.
Mulagoli warned the farmers to be weary of brokers who are on the increase in the area and wanted to exploit them.
