Posted on October, 8, 2018 at 10:03 am
By AGATHA NGOTHO
The government is rushing to distribute subsidised fertiliser to all farmers for the short-rains planting season.
Farmers in some parts of the country have yet to receive the fertiliser.
Meanwhile, the Kenya Fertiliser Conference will take place on October 16-17. Participants from the public and private sectors will discuss problems in obtaining and using fertiliser and soil additives.
The National Cereals and Produce Board yesterday said the subsided fertiliser will be ferried to depots where farmers are planting short-rains crops.
“We’ve received the greenlight from the Agriculture ministry to relocate subsidised fertiliser from depots where farmers are not planting the short-rains crops to where planting has started, acting MD Albin Sang said.
In the North Rift, farmers are harvesting the long-rains crops and a lot of fertiliser remained in the depots in those areas. Money has been requested to pay transporters to ferry it to where farmers are in need, the official said.
Sh1,500 a bag
By next week, farmers from Western, Nyanza and Central will start receiving planting and top-dressing fertiliser for Sh1,500 a bag.
Farmer Josphat Wanyoike from Maragua, Murang’a county, said on Friday he has started planting using the subsidised fertiliser he bought during the long-rains season.
“But most farmers in this area have yet to receive fertiliser from the NCPB depot in Sagana,” Wanyoike said during a field event in.
“Farmers who were able to buy fertiliser in the last long-rains season and store it for the short-rains season have an advantage. Those without it will either wait or buy from the agrovets at a higher price of Sh2,500-3,000.”
Simon Mwangi from the Agribusiness and Value Addition Division at the Ministry of Agriculture said the government provides 40 per cent of the required fertiliser in the country but is currently supplying only 25.3 per cent of the amount required. Usually, the private sector provides 60 per cent, he added.
Experts have said that despite the 25 per cent increase in fertiliser use from 2014 to 2016, farm yields remain stagnant.
Source: Daily Monitor