Kitui farmers to pay Sh2,500 per acre for county tractors

The Kitui government will place 40 tractors at the disposal of farmers ahead of the October-December rains in efforts to boost food production and ward off hunger.

Agriculture and Livestock CEC Stephen Kimwele said on Thursday that a farm tractor will be stationed in each of the 40 wards in a cost-sharing arrangement to support mechanised agriculture.

The tractors will be hired out to farmers at a subsidised fee of Sh1,000 for every acre of land ploughed.

Kimwele said farmers will however have to fuel the tractors, bringing the cost for every acre ploughed to about Sh2,500.

“We are emphasising mechanised agriculture because it is more efficient and gives good returns in terms of farm yield. Farmers will pay much less to plough an acre since the market rate is Sh 4,500,” the CEC said.

Kimwele said failure to provide farm tractors to farmers early enough in the past caused poor yields, hence the proactive decision to release machines to farmers way ahead of the onset of the short rains.

He clarified that although in the past farmers only paid Sh1,000 for every acre ploughed, budgetary constraints have informed the decision to ask them to meet the cost of fuelling the tractors.

“Therefore, farmers will pay for fuel at petrol stations as they pay the Sh 1,000 per acre to the Kitui county revenue account. We ask farmers to take advantage of the facility to boost farm yields,” he said.

Speaking to the media in Kitui, Kimwele said since farmers were expected to plough and prepare their farms early ahead of the October-December rains, the first batch of 15 tractors will be released to the wards next week.

He at the same time ruled out the possibility of the county government distributing free seeds ahead of the October-December rains as happened in the past.

Kimwele said due to good yields in the past two rain seasons, farmers were expected to have spared seeds for planting. The county government would only come in when farmers are faced with drought and food shortage.

“In the last two rain seasons, we distributed drought tolerant seeds worth Sh40 million to farmers and since it led to good yields, this time around we expect farmers to use part of their harvest as seeds to plant in the coming rains,” he said.

His department is encouraging farmers to practice seed bulking so as not to run short of seeds for planting in future. “We are telling them to plant and keep seeds for themselves,” he said.

“Farmers should know that the county government will be coming in only in times of drought and serious need. When there is a new seed variety to boost production, we can come in,” he said.

He said the mentality of farmers relying on free seeds from the county government every planting season should be discouraged.