NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 12 – Kenya will launch an electronic voucher fertiliser subsidy programme in a move aimed at addressing the challenges of input thefts that marred the previous processes.
President William Ruto says the government will continue to subsidise the price of fertilizer and farmers will buy at Sh3,500 per bag.
He added that the government is working with the private sector, to import 300,000 metric tonnes (6 million bags) of fertilizer.
“Let me also say that we intend to deliver our subsidy program on fertilizer on e – voucher that is going to be available to 1.3 million farmers,” said Ruto.
“And I want to encourage our farming community to register themselves because going forward our fertilizer subsidy program is going to be dispensed on the internet on e – voucher so that we can eliminate brokers and eliminate cartels and ensure that targeted farmers have access to fertilizer,” he stated.
President Ruto’s remarks come a week after he assured farmers of the first consignment of 300, 000 metric tons of assorted fertilizer by end of this year, in his bid to increase food productivity in the country and drive out hunger.
The Head of State added that the government has made all the necessary interventions to ensure that the fertilizer which is to be used by farmers next year is affordable to them and at an affordable price.
“We have a program to import 300 000 metric tons of assorted fertilizer, so that we can assist our farmers produce and we can deal decisively with the challenge of cost of food by ensuring we enhance our productivity and expand our production so that we can drive hunger out of our country,” noted Ruto.
In September, the Treasury set aside Sh3.6 billion for the fertilizer subsidy scheme in response to an order by President Ruto to reduce the price of the fertilizer by nearly half.
In his inaugural address in September, the Head of State pledged to lower the price of fertilizer to Sh3,500 so that farmers could easily acquire it and increase the nation’s food security.
The e-voucher scheme was launched by the government in 2020 as a pilot initiative, although it was only intended for small-scale farmers in a few counties who got funds via their mobile phones to buy farm inputs from authorized agro veterinarians.
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