Farmers have petitioned Agriculture CS Mutahi Kagwe to help reduce seed prices and other farm inputs ahead of the planting season which starts in March.
The farmers are particularly concerned after the Kenya Seed Company increased seed prices by more than 30 per cent.
Farmers representatives led by Michael Bowen and Kipkorir Menjo expressed concern that high costs of farm inputs will likely affect production this year.
Menjo said the gains made through distribution of subsidised fertiliser will be wiped out if prices of other farm inputs are hiked. Some farmers have already started preparing their farms ahead of the planting season but they are worried that the high costs of farm inputs which also include pesticides.
“The prices of seeds have been increased like never before and this will particularly affect small-scale farmers who also contribute to production,” Menjo said.
He wants Kagwe to look into ways of supporting Kenya Seed Company to reduce prices of seeds.
A 2kg packet of seed, which was last year going for Sh420, now goes for Sh600. Farmers were initially buying a 10kg bag at Sh2,100 but will now pay Sh3,000 for the same quantity. A 25kg bag which was initially going for Sh5,250 will now retail at Sh7,500.
CEO of the seed firm Sammy Chepsiror said the increase in prices had been necessitated by factors which were unavoidable.
He said due to increasing demand for seeds, the company had been forced to increase prices for farmers who engage in seed production for supply to the company.
The company produces about 10 per cent of its seeds while the rest is produced by hired farmers.
“We had to increase what we pay to our seed producers to attract them to continue producing more,” Chepsiror said.
He said increased payments to the seeds producers caused a change in the seed selling prices thus affecting farmers.
He also noted that the cost of hiring of land for seed production had also gone up from about Sh4,000 per acre to about Sh20,000.
“Land owners have increased the cost of hiring out their land for seed production yet we need the land to sustain our production,” Chepsiror said.