- The government has so far delivered 2,000,000 50kg bags of fertiliser to farmers.
- More than five million farmers have been registered and 3,628,512 e-vouchers have bee issued.
Image: ENOS TECHE
President William Ruto has announced a drop in fertiliser prices by Sh1,000.
A bag of subsidised fertiliser will now sell at Sh2,500 for Sh3,500.
He spoke during a media briefing at State House on the reduced prices of fertiliser.
Last year, Ruto announced that the government would prepare farmers for the last planting season by making available 300,000MT or 6,000,000 bags subsidised at Sh3,500 each from Sh7,000.
The subsidy programme was accompanied by a farmer registration exercise and the deployment of an accurate and transparent e-voucher system for managing distribution.
The programme was launched in January when most farmers from the North Rift region, which is the bread basket of the country, were preparing for the long rains planting season.
The President presided over the launch of the first phase of the subsidised fertiliser programme and the inaugural phase of the national farmer digital registration exercise.
During the launch, Ruto noted that for the first time in more than a decade, the fertiliser reached farmers in time to prepare for planting.
“During that time, we delivered 2,000,000 50kg bags to farmers. Similarly, since the onset of the long rain season, we have prepared farmers in 41 counties and delivered to them 3,536,162 bags of crop specific and region-specific fertilisers. In the process, registered more than five million farmers, issued 3,628,512 e-vouchers and established last-mile distribution centres,” he said.
He added that, “for the first time in our country’s history, we are providing farmers with fertiliser whose formulation is customised to feed crops with their specific requirement of elements and address local soil nutrient composition," Ruto said.
He added that it is also the first time that fertiliser has been directly delivered to farmers on the basis of land acreage and crop production capacity.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the country is expecting maize harvest of between 35-44 million 90kg bags. This is a 31 per cent increase from a long-term annual average of 31.3 million bags.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi last week said for the long-term stabilisation of fertiliser prices, the government is encouraging investment in manufacturing and blending in Kenya, value-added processing, instead of importation dependence.