Farmers rush to plant crops as state distributes delayed subsidised fertiliser

The government has started distributing subsidised fertiliser to address a biting shortage of the farm input as farmers rush against time to plant weeks after the onset of long rains.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe on Monday said hundreds of trucks had started delivering fertiliser to National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depots across the country to meet the high demand.

“To address the rising demand, the government has mobilised over 200 trucks currently en route to various NCPB stores to replenish supplies. Furthermore, additional metric tonnes of fertiliser are in transit via sea to ensure continued availability,” he said in a statement.

The deliveries are part of the extra one million bags that were imported after demand for the farm input outstripped the budgeted supplies of 3.5 million bags.

Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Rono last week attributed what he termed as “unexpected” fertiliser shortage to “increased demand”.

“We had proper plans to address the challenge of fertiliser this planting season and we did not anticipate this deficit because we had ordered the fertiliser early enough for farmers. But we have imported more fertiliser because of the increasing demand from farmers. We flagged off the consignment on Sunday (March 23) in Mombasa and it is now being transported to NCPB depots,” the PS said at the Eldoret NCPD depot.

The PS said the government would buy an extra 5 million bags of fertiliser the next planting season to address the perennial deficit during every planting season and the increasing demand.

“We are now going to upgrade our farmers’ register because the recent shortage has informed measures that we should put in place to ensure we do not have a shortage going forward.”

A spot check by the Nation in various NCPB depots on Monday revealed that some had started receiving the extra supplies.

At the NCPB depot in Elburgon, Nakuru County, the Nation found workers offloading a truck carrying bags of fertiliser, with over 3,000 bags of planting fertiliser already stocked inside.

On one side of the depot, planting fertiliser was neatly stacked, while top-dressing fertiliser occupied the other section.

“Bags of subsidised fertiliser for top dressing are plentiful since farmers are currently focused on planting. They will apply the top-dressing fertiliser later,” said Mr Peter Rono, a farmer collecting his supply.

An official at the depot confirmed that farmers were purchasing fertiliser in large numbers as the rains continue.

“We have not experienced shortages here compared to other regions. However, we hope the government will keep supplying more to prevent any future shortages,” the official said, adding that more trucks carrying fertiliser were expected this week.

Some of the planting fertiliser varieties available at the depot include Mavuno, Falcon NPK and OCP.

For farmers like Pauline Keter from Sotik in Bomet County, the arrival of fertiliser at NCPB depots on Monday comes as a major relief.

Ms Keter said many farmers had delayed planting maize and other food crops, especially cereals, due to the delay in fertiliser distribution.

In Mulot, Narok County, Mr Paul Sanga confirmed that the fertiliser was now available particularly benefiting farmers growing tea and wheat.

However, some depots in Western and Nyanza are yet to receive additional supplies, especially planting fertiliser.

NCPB Lake Western Regional Manager Dennis Mutai said the supply of planting fertiliser had resumed after a two-week disruption caused by delayed state payments to suppliers.

“We were expecting to receive a lorry-full of fertiliser today, but we now hope to receive it any time from tomorrow. Several other regions have already received their allocations,” he said.

Mr Mutai acknowledged that a number of farmers had been making enquiries and queuing at NCPB outlets to purchase the subsidised fertiliser.

Dr Rono insisted that the government fertilisers must be sold from the stores at Sh2,500 per 50-kilogramme bag, and directed that commercial farmers purchasing fertiliser in bulk and those purchasing fewer than 10 bags must be given priority.

He encouraged farmers to register themselves in the E-Fertiliser management system so they can collect the farm input at various points across the country with ease.

Dr Rono further warned NCBP against cartels in the sector, insisting that only genuine farmers would be provided with subsidised fertiliser.

The government, he said, had decentralised the purchase of fertiliser centres across the country by partnering with county governments and cooperative societies.

“We are working with county governments through cooperative societies to come up with stores at the grassroots level to avert the long queues experienced at NCPB silos across the country, and we are advising farmers to make use of stores close to them instead of coming to purchase the same at NCPB stores,” the PS stated.

Reporting by Vitalis Kimutai, Titus Ominde, Evans Jaola, John Njoroge, Victor Raballa and Mercy Koskei.