Outrage as cheap fertiliser for Kakamega farmers ends up in shops
A farmer in Ikolomani carries home 50kg subsidised Mavuno fertiliser at Mutaho village Idakho in Kakamega County on March1, 2023. The bulk of the commodity purchased by the county has ended up in the wrong hands.
Farmers in Kakamega County are up in arms after subsidised seeds and fertiliser meant for them ended up in the hands of traders who later sold them at exorbitant prices.
It is reported that traders from the neighbouring counties of Bungoma, Busia and Siaya bought the inputs in bulk to sell in their shops.
The scam is taking place through collusion between county officials and agro dealers who conspire to subvert the process aimed at cushioning small scale farmers from the region.
Instead, the farm inputs are sold to middlemen in bulk and end up in the market to be sold to farmers who want to buy in small quantities at exorbitant prices.
Many farmers complain that they are incurring huge transport costs to reach the county offices only to be disappointed by the officers in charge of the programme.
After making three trips to the county offices, Mr Said Wamukoya, a farmer from Mwilunya village in Mumias West sub-county failed to buy three kilos of maize seeds and 25kg of planting fertiliser.
“I ended up purchasing the agricultural inputs from retail shops. Each 2kg packet of maize seeds cost me Sh600 instead of the Sh300 sold by the county government. This programme did not come to help the common farmers but the well-off traders and county officials,” lamented Mr Wamukoya.
Mr Evans Anjere, a farmer from Muluanda in Khwisero sub-county, claimed there was fraud in the subsidised farm input scheme that is flooded by middlemen.
