Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi has stated that county-level bans on the Miraa variety and Muguka are invalid, citing the fact that Mũgũka is a scheduled crop as per the Crops Act 2013 and the Miraa Regulations 2023.
The most recent event follows a special meeting that President Ruto and the Embu leadership had on Monday to talk about the prohibition of Muguka in several counties.
The senator, the woman representative, the deputy governor, and all members of the County Assembly were present at the meeting on Monday at State House in Nairobi, including Governor Cecily Mbarire.
The legal position of Muguka was explained by the in attendance CS Linturi, who declared that any supposed bans in Mombasa, Taita Taveta, and Kilifi counties that run counter to the shrub’s legal recognition arenull and void.
CS Linturi noted that the Crops Act 2013 and Miraa Regulations 2023 were approved by the Council of Governors after passing through the National Assembly and Senate, respectively.
According to the regulations, the government must pay for all Mũgũka farming-related expenses, such as licensing, marketing, regulation, transportation, aggregation, selling, and export.
The regulations state that the Council of Governors has nominated three members to the Miraa/Mũgũka Pricing Committee.
In order to address the concerns of the stakeholders, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock was instructed to call a consultative forum after the meeting.
The purpose of this forum is to help implement the Mũgũka/Miraa Regulations 2023 and to address issues.
In addition, all crop-related operations will be governed by the Miraa/Mũgũka Standard Code of Practice.
In order to improve the Mũgũka industry, the government is devoted to increasing farming, aggregation, grading, pricing, packing, and value addition, according to CS Linturi.
The government has committed KSh500 million for value addition in the fiscal year 2024–2025 to help with these initiatives.
