• Sh32 billion needed for proper subsidised fertiliser programme. After farmers had none and raised outcry, state set aside Sh5.7 billion.
• Subsidies for neediest food farmers but all has been snapped up in Nyandarua and Nakuru. Potato farmers lament.
Image: GEORGE MURAGE
As the planting season begins, many farmers in Nyandarua and Nakuru counties have no subsidised fertiliser.
Some may not plant at all; others will plant without inputs.
Farmers countrywide needed Sh32 billion but the money was used for the general election.
After an outcry by farmers, the government allocated Sh5.7 billion, only for needy farmers and only for food crops.
Maize fertiliser costs as much as Sh6,000 per 50kg sack.
The government promised to issue 10 to 20 sacks of Sh2,800 fertiliser to potato farmers.
It hasn't materialised in those counties as the long rains start pounding parts of the country.
Prices of fertiliser are rising in the two counties; a 50kg bag goes for Sh4,900.
In Maella, Naivasha and Kinangop, which are part of the country’s food basket, hundreds of farmers have not received the subsidised fertiliser.
Jacob Muiruri from the Maella Green Grocers’ organisation said farming was becoming harder by the day due to the rise in the cost of farm inputs.
He said they were overjoyed when the government promised to supply them with the subsidised fertiliser but only a handful of the farmers benefitted.
“There were many demands from NCPB before [we could] receive the fertiliser and after a couple of days it ran out meaning we have to plant without it,” he said.
Muiruri urged the CS for Agriculture to intervene so they could get the subsidised fertiliser during the current planting season.
Peterson Kuria from the South Nyandarua potato dealers’ association said that many farmers were yet to plant due shortage of fertiliser.
“We read in the newspapers that the government had released subsidised fertiliser but unfortunately we have not received any bag in Nyandarua,” he said.
He alleged that none of the farmers from the constituency had received the cheaper fertiliser with many forced to dig deeper into the pockets for the commodity.
“Nyandarua is the leading producer of potatoes in the country and currently we are facing an acute shortage of fertiliser," he said.
Earlier, the Kenya Flower Council said the current stock of calcium nitrate would last for only two months. he said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was the main main cause of the shortage.
Both countries are major fertiliser producers and growers of cereals.
According to KFC chief executive officer Clement Tulezi, the country was already facing an acute shortage of fertiliser and raw materials to produce it.
Tulezi said that many farmers were exhausting their stock with the future of flower farming in jeopardy due to the shortage and the rising prices.
Subsidised fertiliser this year is only for food crops.
(Edited by V. Graham)