Ruto Says Six Million Bags of Fertilizer Will be Availed Before April

President William Ruto while addressing Kenyans on Thursday October 20 during Mashujaa Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens, Nairobi promised farmers that six million bags of subsidized fertilizer will be at their disposal before next year’s planting season. 

“We have also made arrangements to make another six million bags of various types of fertilizer available for the long rains season,” the president stated.

President Ruto said his government had already made the first step towards addressing the fertilizer challenge and made it available to counties and regions during the short rain planting season.

Moreover, 1.5 million 50kg bags of fertilizer was imported and distributed at a cost of Sh3,500 per bag.

Likewise, the head of state explained that, with global fertilizer prices having more than doubled in the past two years following the Covid-19 pandemic, the extra costs were passed on to farmers.

In fact, 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 added.

Nonetheless, farmers last month asked the government to ensure only genuine individuals benefit from the subsidized fertilizer.

Similarly, the Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir Menjo stated that the government should have data on the genuine small-scale farmers to prevent unscrupulous traders from benefiting from the subsidized supply.

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The Sh3,500 is good news for farmers in the Eastern and Central region, but government should ensure the fertilizer gets to the farmers on time. The quantities are sufficient but only genuine farmers should benefit from this,” Menjo said. 

Furthermore, Agriculture Principal Secretary Francis Owino said farmers can now buy fertilizer at the nearest cereal board depots.

He noted that a 50kg bag of DAP fertilizer 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.