Commercial Roles The commercial roles of the Board constitute commercial grain trading, which is its core business. In this respect, the Board deals in various products and offers related services to its clients in competition with other players in the industry. Besides trading in key grain products such as maize, wheat, beans, rice, millet and sorghums, the Board offers the following additional services: Leasing out surplus facilities, grain drying, weighing, fumigation, grain cleaning, grading, warehousing, bagging at silos, clearing and forwarding, and hiring of tarpaulins and dunnages.
Since 2002, the Board has diversified into the marketing of various agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and certified seeds as part of the strategy of enhancing efficient cereal production through the use of affordable quality inputs. This move was undertaken in response to farmers’ requirements and the need for the Board to take advantage of its extensive network to move these essential inputs closer to the farmer.
Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) The Board procures, stores and maintains a Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) stock of up to four million bags on behalf of the Government to be used for food security. The Government has recently instructed NCPB to beef up the SGR stock to eight million bags. NCPB has the capability to turn over the SGR stock through releases to commercial outlets and/or to social functions upon instructions from the government. The management of the SGR stocks also entails periodic replacement of stocks to facilitate freshening of the grain to ensure that the SGR stock is of high quality at all times.
Famine Relief (FR) The Board facilitates the procurement, storage, maintenance and distribution of famine relief food to deficit areas, under the National Famine Relief Program, on behalf of the Government. The Board has performed excellently on this role.
