State procures 7.2m bags of fertilizer ahead of long rains

The Government has commenced the procurement and distribution of 7.2 million bags of subsidized fertilizer for the 2025 long rains season.

 

Former Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary (CS) Dr. Andrew Karanja said for some parts of the country the long rain starts mid-March, while in others it starts in January.

 

He attributed the rainfall variation to the early distribution  to ensure that farmers have adequate fertilizer by the time the planting season begins.

 

Speaking at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) head office during the flagging off of the distribution exercise, the CS said the ministry  requires an estimated Sh20 billion to meet the country’s demand for fertilizer which stands at an average 12 million bags annually.

 

“Initially we had a budget estimate of Sh9 billion for the subsidized fertilizer and we are still negotiating with the National Treasury to give us more funds so that we can fulfill the country’s demand,” Karanja explained.

 

The CS said the fertilizer subsidy is one of the best performing programmes under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) and it has been critical in helping the country achieve the food security status it currently enjoys.

 

According to Dr. Karanja, the ministry had an open tender with 34 companies bidding for the supply of subsidized fertilizer and eventually 13 companies were awarded the contract.

 

The CS highlighted that the ministry targets to maximize fertilizer distribution and easy access of the commodity by farmers confirming that plans are underway to onboard agrovets and well organized cooperative societies mainly in the coffee and tea growing zones.

 

“When we were doing the registration of farmers, we also registered around 15,300 agro-vets, about half of them will be on boarded to distribute the fertilizer where we will be looking at their capacity and storage facilities to determine their suitability,” the CS said. 

 

To enhance quality and ensure that there is no case of fake fertilizer, Dr. Karanja said the ministry with other institutions formed a multiagency team comprising of the NCPB, National Intelligence Agencies, Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), and other quality assurance organizations where NCPB is under instructions not to receive any fertilizer consignment without a quality certificate from these agencies.

 

“The multi-agency team is also tasked with monitoring the distribution from the national level to the counties to make sure that nothing happens in between the distribution channel and they will be taking random samples to check on the quality,” Karanja said.

 

The CS guaranteed to farmers that quality will not be an issue this time round, assuring that the structural and institutional measure that they have put in place will deliver the required quality.

 

To ensure that farmers reap the maximum harvest from their crops, the CS disclosed that the fertilizer being distributed is soil and crop specific as there is fertilizer for maize, tea, coffee, sugarcane and other crops.