Flower farms in the country face closure in the coming months following an acute shortage of fertilizer that has affected their operations and seen some farmers scale down production.
The Kenya Flower Council (KFC) and the Agriculture Employers Association (AEA) have now petitioned the President to intervene and help resolve what the two lobby groups deem as a crisis.
According to KFC, the country flower production could fall sharply due to the crisis that has persisted for the last five months. KFC chief executive Clement Tulezi said the sector was on its knees with over 1.6 million metric tonnes of fertilizer awaiting inspection in the Port by KEBs.
Speaking in Naivasha over the weekend, Tulezi termed the horticulture sector as very sensitive noting that failure to supply the fertilizer could lead to a drop in quantity and quality.
“We have held meetings even with the Deputy President over the crisis but Kenya Bureau of Standards has continued to drag its feet leading to the current status where flower farmers are running short of fertilizer,” he said.
Tulezi warned that if not addressed over 150,000 who were employed by the sector would have to be sent home and appealed to the President to intervene.
“At the moment there are over 750,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer been held by Elgon Kenya and another 880,000 in Yala awaiting inspection by KEBs,” he said.
The CEO said that the problem started after KEBs moved to reign in on contraband goods adding that farmers were confident of where they sourced their fertilizer.
He added that farmers were also facing cash flow challenges as KRA had failed to refund Sh5 billion that they owed farmers in VAT refunds.
