President William Ruto has applauded his Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua for his efforts toward the registration of farmer's program.
He said that the government has managed to register more farmers compared to the last five years through the help of his deputy.
Ruto was speaking during the release of the ministry performance report at KICC on Tuesday.
“Let me also say one thing about my deputy here. We had a program we were registering farmers. For Five years we managed to register only a million farmers,” Ruto said.
“But just in two weeks, my deputy mobilised the whole public service because he was a former public service and they registered five million farmers in just two weeks.”
He said that the digital platform for registering farmers has enabled farmers to get fertilisers easily and at the right time.
“Today we are giving fertilisers to farmers using the digital platform. Everybody gets an SMS your fertilizer is ready, come for it. You don’t have to cue. We don’t have the cartels. Old men have no place to steal our fertilizers,” said Ruto.
“For the first time, every farmer who wanted fertilizer got it and the program is doing well.”
He added that it is possible for everyone to do the right thing and take the country forward.
The Kenya Kwanza government launched a nationwide farmer registration drive to help distribute subsidized fertilizers and shape agricultural policies.
The exercise was aimed at creating a digitized national farmer register that will help identify impostors and rogue traders who have been exploiting farmers by accessing and reselling subsidised fertilizers at higher prices.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi said the readymade database will provide managed access to government programs for farmers and ensure traceability, accountability, and transparency in the implementation of fertilizer subsidy programs.
