Farmers' pain as fertiliser shortage bites
Workers offload bags of subsidised fertiliser from a truck at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot in Elburgon, Nakuru County on March 25, 2025.
For the past month, Mr David Rotich, a farmer in Bomet County, has been unable to access subsidised fertiliser from the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and retail outlets for use on his two-acre farm.
With the onset of the expected long rains, Mr Rotich is faced with the choice of waiting for fresh supplies from the government or buying the input at a higher price.
“We have been given promises for over three weeks that the farm input would be delivered by the government, but that has not been done and we do not know whether the deliveries will be made at all in the near future,” Mr Rotich said.
Like hundreds of farmers whose farms have been prepared for planting, Mr Rotich faces the double risk of waiting for deliveries, the timing of which is unknown, and allowing weeds to grow on the farm, incurring additional costs for tilling when the input is delivered, or buying the input at exorbitant prices from retail outlets.
A 50-kilogramme bag of the subsidised NPK fertiliser sells for between Sh2,500 and Sh6,500 in commercial outlets across the country.
President William Ruto initiated the subsidy programme in 2022, leading to a reduction in prices and an increase in production as it became cost effective for farmers to engage in both commercial and subsistence food and cash crop production/.
In an interview with the Nation, Ms Janeth Yegon, a farmer in Elkerin, Narok County, said the government should re-register farmers in the country to get the latest statistics on those who need farm inputs to boost production.
“It is clear that there is a high number of farmers who are now engaged in farming as compared to three years ago. The government should keep the register open to capture more farmers and the acreage under production in their farms,” Ms Yegon said.
Ms Juliana Mengech, a farmer in Kuresoi North Constituency, Nakuru County, said most farmers in the region had not been included in the government programme, which could have contributed to the high demand for farm inputs.
“Why is it that the government cannot keep revising the list of the beneficiaries annually, yet we all know that due to the subsidy programme, the acreage under crop production has steadily been rising?” Ms Mengech wondered.
The government has been distributing fertiliser in the country based on the number of farmers who have registered and the amount of input they need.
However, there have been reports of acute shortages of fertiliser across the country, amid revelations that some farmers have been sold fake fertiliser by unscrupulous businessmen.
Paul Ronoh, the Principal Secretary for Agriculture, has admitted that the high demand for the input, which exceeded what the government had budgeted for, has led to the shortages in the country.
Dr Ronoh said although the government recently delivered 3.5 million bags to the NCPB depots, there was still a shortage of more than one million bags of fertiliser in the country.
He said the subsidised fertiliser was delivered to NCPB depots on Monday this week, but it has emerged that most outlets have yet to receive the farm inputs.
Dr Ronoh said the shortage was a repeat of what happened last year with more farmers engaged in both subsistence and commercial farming activities.
In Homa Bay, the PS said the fertiliser had been imported and flagged off in Mombasa for various counties, adding that farmers should be patient as the supplies would be available in their localities.
However, farmers in the South Rift region have urged the government to ensure that supplies are not cut off as the traditional planting season has been abandoned and farmers are engaged in diversified agricultural activities.
“In Bomet, for example, we are waiting for the fertiliser to be delivered to the NCPB depots to enable us plant before the ongoing rains increases to a level we cannot undertake any meaningful engagement in the farms,” said Mr Peter Kiprono, a farmer in Kembu, Bomet East Constituency.
The planting season in the South Rift region was traditionally between November and January, when farmers planted maize, but they have now diversified into sorghum and other short-season crops.
Maize production in the country has increased as a result of the government's fertiliser subsidy programme.
It was estimated that farmers would produce 75.97 million bags in the last crop season, up from 67 million bags in 2023 and 47 million bags in 2022.