Toyota misses deadline for start of Eldoret fertiliser plant
The government spends Sh3 billion annually to provide farmers with subsidised fertiliser that sells at Sh1,800. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Toyota Tsusho as delayed to identify and acquire land for the NPK fertiliser plant which was to start production this year.
Toyota, which will finance the construction, plans to build an NPK fertiliser plant in the first phase of the project.
Construction of a fertiliser factory by Japanese multinational Toyota Tsusho Corporation has delayed, raising the possibility that the government may not meet its target of offering cheap manure to farmers this year.
The Japanese multinational has delayed to identify and acquire land for the NPK fertiliser plant which was to start production this year.
Agriculture principal secretary Sicily Kariuki, however, said that Toyota has given an undertaking to speed up construction of the plant once the land for setting up the factory is acquired.
Ms Kariuki said suitable land will be identified soon in Eldoret with expectations that the first batch of the NPK fertiliser will be produced by June next year.
“Toyota have promised to compensate for the lost time to ensure that the first production of NPK is out by mid next year,” said Ms Kariuki in an interview.
Eldoret has been chosen as the location of the $1.2 billion (Sh102 billion) plant due to the high quantities of fertiliser that the North Rift region consumes, as per government data.
The manufacturing plant is expected to end the perennial problems of fertiliser shortage in the country, which has in the past exposed farmers to exorbitant prices by traders.
Toyota, which will finance the construction, plans to build an NPK fertiliser plant in the first phase of the project.
The second phase of the project will include production of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), urea and Calcium Ammonium Nitrogen (CAN) fertilisers.
Toyota East Africa director and adviser Dennis Awori did not respond to our questions by the time of going to press.
“I will give you a full comment shortly,” Mr Awori said in a text message.
The government spends Sh3 billion annually to provide farmers with subsidised fertiliser that sells at Sh1,800 as opposed to shop prices of Sh3,000.
The state said that the cost of fertiliser will drop by 40 per cent once the country starts manufacturing it locally.
MEA Limited is the only company that is currently blending NPK fertiliser in the country at its Nakuru-based factory. It has plans to open a second fertiliser production plant.
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