Farmers to Buy Cheaper Fertilizer at Cereal Board Depots

By Jane Muia / Published September 20, 2022 | 3:43 pm

Farmers can now purchase cheaper fertilizer as promised by president William Ruto, but they will be allowed to do so at the nearest cereal board depots.

In a statement, the agriculture PS Francis Owino said that a 50kg bag of DAP fertilizer will sell at 3,500 shillings, CAN at 2,875 shillings, and urea at 3,500 shillings. At the same time, NPK will retail at 3,275 shillings, MOP at 1,775, and Sulphate of Ammonia at 2,220 shillings.

According to the PS, each farmer will be entitled to 100 bags (50kg) in a move that will see around 1.4 million acres of land cultivated.

Section of farmers has been blaming the government for delaying subsidized fertilizer in the country. In April, the ministry of agriculture announced a 5.7 billion shillings fertilizer subsidy that slashed the initial fertilizers by almost half.

Under the subsidy program, farmers purchased 50kg of DAP at 2,800 shillings from 6,000 shillings. The subsidy saw Urea retail at 2,700 shillings, CAN 1,950, NPK 3,000, MOP 2500, and Sulphate Ammonia at 2,500 shillings, from 6,500, 3,900 and 4,900, 3,800, and 3,800 shillings, respectively.

Farmers however say the subsidized fertilizer was not accessed by a majority of them, and they were pushed to plant with insufficient inputs, a move that will highly impact production later in the year.

The World Bank 2019/20 Kenya Economic Update indicates that subsidized fertilizer majorly benefits affluent farmers and companies that distribute the manure. Kenya requires about 650,000 tonnes of fertilizer annually for enhanced production.

Fertilizer prices have been on an upward spree in the last months, with a 50kg bag costing between 4200 and 7,000 shillings.

The agriculture cabinet secretary Peter Munya said the prices were primarily affected by recent commodity inflation occasioned recovery of businesses post covid 19 pandemic, as well as restricted efforts in countries like China, Russia, and Turkey to protect their farmers against reduced global supplies.