• A 50kg bag of DAP fertiliser at the Port of Mombasa is selling at Sh2,200, and between Sh2, 800 to Sh2, 900 in Kitale.
• Fertiliser Association of Kenya chairman says prices have dropped by Sh600 from last year when a bag was selling at Sh2,800 at the Port.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
The price of fertiliser has gone down contrary to farmers’ complaints, private dealers have said.
Fertiliser Association of Kenya chairman Eustace Muriuki on Wednesday told the Star that the price of a 50kg bag of fertiliser has fallen by Sh600 owing to a reduction in the global market.
“A bag of DAP fertiliser at the Port of Mombasa is selling at Sh2,200. By the time it gets to farmers in Kitale, the bag retails for between Sh2,800 and Sh2,900 due to transport logistics,” he said.
Muriuki explained that in the same period last year, a bag of DAP at the Port of Mombasa was selling at Sh2,800. This meant farmers were buying the same bag for between Sh3,000 and Sh3,500.
“This is a reduction of Sh600. So contrary to what farmers are saying, the prices are low and affordable to farmers if they prepare well,” Muriuki said.
He also assured farmers there is enough fertiliser in the country for the long rain season.
Muriuki said they have more than 200,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser and they are expecting another consignment on February 28 and a second one on March 15.
“The government may not be supplying subsidy fertiliser to farmers this season, and we are more than ready and prepared to sell the commodity to the farmers," he said.
But National Cereals and Produce Board spokesperson on Wednesday said, "We have a stock of 425,000 bags of assorted subsidised fertilisers in our stores."
In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture said farmers would access subsidised fertlisers through the e-voucher system during this year's planting season.
Registered farmers will be given a voucher to access subsidised fertiliser from agrovets, who will later claim money from the government.
But the initiative is yet to start rolling out even though the government had set aside Sh2 billion for the programme. This leaves farmers at the mercy of fertiliser dealers in the market.
Last week, farmers in North Rift pleaded with the government to cushion them from high prices by providing subsidised fertiliser.
The National Cereals and Produce Board sells a 50kg bag of subsidised planting fertiliser at Sh1, 800 and top fertiliser at Sh1,500.
Led by Nandi farmers spokesperson Hellen Saina, farmers were concerned that there would be a drop in maize production because of high fertiliser prices.
She said a bag of 50kg in the open market is retailing at more than Sh3,200 and the government has yet to communicate whether it will supply subsidised.
“The government is quiet on the issues of fertiliser subsidies yet the planting season is so close. The prices being offered by the private dealers are too high for farmers and if nothing is done, then we expect a further drop in maize production this year,” Saina said.