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NCPB warehouse leasing revenue declines to Sh359 million
Workers arrange bags of subsidised urea fertiliser for top dressing at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot in Elburgon, Nakuru County on April 21, 2025.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) earned Sh359.7 million in revenues from leasing warehouses and storage facilities in various counties to farmers and private enterprises last year.
Newly published data from the 2025 Economic Survey shows that the revenue dropped from Sh383.2 million received in 2023.
NCPB, however, earns the bulk of its revenue from the sale of cereals.
“The total revenue generated declined by 6.1 percent from Sh383.2 million in 2023 to Sh359.7 million in 2024 of grain storage revenue generated by NCPB from leasing out conventional stores and warehouses,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said in the survey.
The NCPB also leases space for Strategic Food Reserves and offers warehousing services to the private sector, farmers, and traders.
In the year under review, there was an increase in capacity leased of 23.9 million from 14.1 million for 50-kilogramme bags in various counties.
“During the review period, the leading counties with leased out storage were Uasin Gishu (3.5 million), Nairobi City (1.5 million), Bungoma (1.4 million), and Nakuru (1.3 million),” said the KNBS.
Other top counties are Nakuru at 1.3 million and Trans Nzoia at 1.08 million. Elgeyo Marakwet (54,000), Wajir (72,000) and Lamu (72,000) had the least capacity, while Isiolo County did not have any storage space. The leased warehouses store maize, wheat and rice, among other commodities.
The KNBS adds that the storage capacities for 2024 are reported in 50-kg bags only, in compliance with the labour laws that regulate the maximum weight a worker can lift, carry, pull, or push, with the limit being 50kg for male workers and 25kg for female workers.
Since 2020, the NCPB has been required to cede at least 25 percent of its storage across the country through competitive commercial leasing, allowing the private sector to participate in the storage of commodities under the Warehouse Receipting System.
WRS allows farmers to hold their produce in certified warehouses where they can be tested, cleaned, graded, and then stored, with the owners of the commodity receiving a receipt as proof of ownership.
Since its establishment in 2020, WRS is expected to go a long way in contributing to the improvement of commodity storage, reducing average post-harvest losses, curbing value chain inefficiencies and increasing financial earnings to farmers, traders and service providers in the agricultural sector.
