Farmers can heave another sigh of relief following a pledge by the government that six million bags of subsidisee fertiliser will be at their disposal before next year's planting season.
President William Ruto made the promise on Thursday in his address during Mashujaa Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi.
"We have also made arrangements to make another six million bags of various types of fertiliser available for the long rains season," he said.
Long rains in Kenya take occur between mid March until early June.
Ruto said his government had already made the first step to address the fertiliser challenge and made it available to counties and regions during the short rain planting season.
Some 1.5 million 50kg bags of fertiliser was imported and distributed at a cost of Sh3,500 per bag.
The President explained that with global fertiliser prices having more than doubled in the past two years following the Covid-19 pandemic, the extra costs were passed on to farmers.
The cost skyrocketed to more than Sh7,000 for a 50-kg bag.
"This had a huge impact on productivity of farmers last year. For example, maize production suffered a deficit of more than 10 million bags," Ruto said.
Farmers last month urged the government to ensure only genuine individuals benefit from the subsidised fertiliser.
Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir Menjo said the government should have data on the genuine small-scale farmers to prevent unscrupulous traders from benefiting from the subsidised supply.
"The Sh3,500 is good news for farmers in the Eastern and Central region but government should ensure the fertiliser gets to the farmers on time. The quantities are sufficient but only genuine farmers should benefit from this," Menjo said.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Francis Owino said farmers can now buy fertiliser at the nearest cereal board depots.
He said a 50kg bag of DAP fertiliser will be selling at Sh3,500, CAN at Sh2,875, Urea at Sh3,500, NPK at Sh3,275, MOP at Sh1,775 and Sulphate of Ammonia at Sh2,220.
