The government has shipped in a consignment of 7.5 million bags of fertiliser to be distributed around the country in readiness for planting season in the new year, Agriculture PS Kipronoh Ronoh has said.
And unlike last year, certified agrovets are being listed to aid in the distribution of the fertiliser subsidy to cut down on the long queues at the National Cereals and Produce Board storages.
“We will expand the distribution network to also include certified agro vets together with the NCPB outlets so that the exercises can run hitchlessly to our registered farmers.”
The imported fertiliser is categorised to support various agricultural value chains, including maize, tea, and sugar.
The exercise was previously dogged by controversy after un unscrupulous persons took over and managed to distribute fake fertiliser.
The biggest casualty of the scandal was former CS Mithika Linturi, who was dropped in a cabinet reshuffling that saw the President come up with a broad-based government.
“There is no room for distribution of fake fertiliser through the government scheme. We will arrest any dubious characters who attempt to make money through conmanship this time round. The security agencies have been directed to be on the lookout across the 47 counties,” Ronoh said.
The subsidy programme has been hailed for improving food security prospects, with the State Department of Agriculture also reporting that production of rice, beans, and other commercial crops such as tea and sugar growing exponentially.
The PS however cautioned Kenyans against selling maize to foreign countries as of now, adding that whatever has been produced should be sold internally to stabilise the markets.
Ronoh was speaking in Kericho where he met with Kenya Tea Development Authority directors from smallholder factories in the West of Rift area ((Nandi, Bomet, Kericho, and Kisii counties) on Friday.
The PS noted that farmers had produced excess tea, adding that the government has now lined up several marketing missions abroad to open up new markets for this sur- plus tea produced.
Kenya Tea Board CEO Willy Mutai, who accompanied the PS, said the agency is putting controls to enable Kenya to reach restricted markets around the globe.
“We are going to enhance controls to ensure quality goes up so that tea farmers can benefit more. We want to make sure we can access more markets,” Mutai said.
He said a marketing mission to Iran, Pakistan, and India is set to start in the next two weeks targeting ar- eas where the sale of Kenyan tea had gone down.
Kericho Governor Erick Mutai hailed the PS for his interventions, saying the move by the department to address concerns raised by farmers is attracting many Kenyans back to farming.
