The government has assured farmers that there is sufficient subsidized fertilizer for each one of them ahead of the planting season.
National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) North Rift Manager Gilbert Rotich says by Friday this week, all the depots in the region will have the fertilizers.
Addressing farmers at the Eldoret NCPB depot, Rotich also asked farmers not to panic over messages they have received asking them to collect the fertilize within 7 days.
“We understand every farmer comes from a different background, so we have requested that the 7 days be extended to at least 30 days,” he said.
There has been panic among farmers after they received a message asking them to collect their fertilizers within a week.
The messages were computer generated, as part of the new government initiative aimed at curbing fraud and middlemen in the distribution of the commodity.
Enough fertilizer
But amid fears some of them might not get the subsidies, the farmers went to the Eldoret depot seeking answers.
“Fertilizer that is coming is enough. If you’re supposed to get 1,000 bags of fertilizers as per the message you have, that’s what you will get. By Friday, all NCPB depots will have fertilizer and under the new system, you can pick from any of them,” noted the NCPB North Rift manager.
However, Rotich says currently, a farmer is only allowed to purchase a maximum of 82 bags of fertilizers due to M-Pesa limits.
But in the near future, he said, Safaricom and KCB are working on coming up with a platform that will enable farmers requiring to pay more for the fertilizers to do so.
The government is providing subsidized fertilizers to farmers at Ksh3,500 per 50-kilogram bag.
A Cabinet sitting in November 2022 approved the importation of six million bags of fertilizers ahead of the planting season.
It is anticipated that Maize farmers in the North Rift region will start planting season early in March – when the long rains are expected to begin.
