The government has delivered about 635,000 bags of subsidised fertiliser to be sold through the NCPB.
Most Rift Valley farmers will begin planting as soon as the rains start.
The farmers will be vetted afresh before they can buy the fertiliser, which is not nearly enough for all of them.
More than four million bags of DAP alone are required for the planting season in the high-producing counties, including Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Trans Nzoia and Kakamega.
National Cereals and Produce Board spokesman Titus Maiyo said the fertiliser available includes mostly blended DAP for planting and CAN for top dressing.
DAP will be sold for Sh1,800 per 50kg bag while CAN will go for Sh1,300 per bag.
“That is the amount of subsidised fertiliser we have at the moment and it will be sold to farmers through normal procedures," Maiyo said.
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ETG has signed a deal with farmers to provide fertiliser through co-operatives. It has already delivered two million bags of DAP at its depots in Eldoret, where it is sold for Sh3,000 per 90kg bag.
Strategic Food Reserve chairman Noah Wekesa had asked farmers to prepare to buy fertiliser from the open market because the government could not import it on time due to procurement problems.
Businessman Bundotich Kiprop (Buzeki), together with ETG, entered into a deal with the farmers to provide fertiliser.
On Friday, farmers said the ETG deal had helped ease shortage and stabilise fertiliser prices, which would have gone up to more than Sh3,500 per bag after the government failed to import subsidised fertiliser.
“Some people have been opposing the ETG deal, claiming Buzeki would earn political mileage because he has intervened to save the situation for farmers,” Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir Menjo said.
"Time for politics is still far away but were it not for ETG, there would be a more serious fertiliser crisis."
Menjo said the ETG fertiliser is of high quality and farmers are free to have it tested.
