A Nairobi-based energy trading firm-Tarita Green Energy Limited plans to set up a 40,000-tonne-a-year green ammonia production facility in Uasin Gishu County, to provide the raw material for its proposed fertiliser blending facility.
Ammonia is a pungent gas that is widely used to make agricultural fertilisers. Green ammonia production is where the process of making ammonia is 100 percent renewable and carbon-free.
A disclosure showed Tarita will also put up a fertiliser plant with an output of 300,000 tonnes a year at the plant project site in Kaptagat.
“The company programmes include setting up a greenfield of 195 megawatts (MW) solar park and a 135 MW green hydrogen electrolysis plant to manufacture 40,000 metric tonnes per year of green ammonia.”
“The special purpose vehicle has entered into land lease arrangements for 1,400 acres of land where the developments will be undertaken. The plant site is in close proximity to the 132 KV (kilovolt) Kabarnet-Lessos transmission line where the project can draw power from to meet its auxiliary power needs.”it added.
Kenya has remained a net importer of fertiliser over the years, partly due to the fact that the country does not produce fossil fuels.
This has seen the price of the commodity sit above the reach of most farmers, hurting the productivity of the sector and pushing the country into expensive food imports, especially when reserve stocks run low due to periods of adverse weather conditions.
In 2023, Kenya imported 951,751 tonnes of chemical fertilisers valued at Sh63 billion, as per data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
This was an increase from imports of 561,986 tonnes in 2022, with the higher volumes in 2023 tied to the government’s fertiliser subsidy programme.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, there are over 5.9 million farmers under the fertiliser subsidy programme, where the price of a bag has been cut from about Sh6,500 to Sh2,500.
