Posted on January, 25, 2019 at 10:20 am
By AGATHA NGOTHO
Farmers will dig deeper into their pockets this year to acquire fertiliser.
For the past 11 years, the government has provided subsidised fertiliser to boost food production. This year, it is yet to purchase the input even though the long-rains planting season is approaching.
Farmers are on their own.
In 2017, the government struck a deal with the Export Trading Company Limited to supply imported fertiliser for three years. The contract was terminated after two years.
From October last year, the Agriculture ministry has been negotiating on the modality because there was no budget set to buy fertiliser.
“The ministry could not advertise for the supply of fertiliser, which requires two months to get into the country. Due to the investigations by the EACC happening at the ministry and many other government parastatals, nobody wants to touch on anything. This is making it difficult to make any decisions,” a ministry staff told the Star yesterday.
The officer pointed out that if the subsidised fertiliser is not supplied to farmers, traders may take advantage and increase the prices.
Traders sell a bag of fertiliser at between Sh2,500 and Sh2,600. The subsided input retails at between Sh1,500 and Sh1,800.
The price difference will increase production costs and could have far-reaching implications on future maize prices. Maize is Kenya’s staple crop.
Last week, Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri was non-committal on whether the government will be supplying the subsidised fertiliser to farmers in time before planting starts. The CS spoke in Maina village, Laikipia.
In 2008, the government started the subsidised fertiliser programme to cushion farmers from high prices and improve productivity.
Since then, unscrupulous traders have been colluding with officials at the National Cereals and Produce Board to buy the fertiliser and repackage it before selling it to farmers at higher prices.
The programme has been a cash cow, prompting experts to question if it was intended for farmers or profiteers.
Yesterday, Timoth Njagi of Tegemeo Institute urged the government to provide favourable taxation and transportation policies for the private sector for farmers to get better prices. This will protect them if there will be no subsidised fertiliser, he said.
“The government should ease the way of doing business for the private sector to help reduce the price of fertiliser so that farmers are able to afford the commodity,” he said.
Source: The Star