National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is moving fertiliser from other regions to the North Rift where it is in high demand to address the current shortage.
These fertilisers are part of the NCPB stocks, which it had bought for commercial sale to farmers but have so far been subsidised.
The board has been grappling with a shortage in North Rift, a move that is likely to impact on production owing to delayed planting.
National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is moving fertiliser from other regions to the North Rift where it is in high demand to address the current shortage.
The board said the other regions do not need the input at the moment as much as the North Rift where farmers are currently planting.
These fertilisers are part of the NCPB stocks, which it had bought for commercial sale to farmers but have so far been subsidised.
The board has been grappling with a shortage in North Rift, a move that is likely to impact on production owing to delayed planting.
“We are now moving the fertiliser from other depots where it is not in high demand to meet the current deficit in supply,” said Titus Maiyo, NCPB communications manager.
The board has so far distributed over 12,000 bags of fertiliser to a number of depots in the North Rift between Saturday and Wednesday.
The board is also getting additional bags of the commodity from suppliers who had stocked in Mombasa.
Last week, farmers raised concerns over the shortage of subsidised fertiliser with the NCPB putting the blame on suppliers.
“We are relying on suppliers goodwill to get the stocks that we need to sell to farmers, what we get is what we sell. We do not have control over the number of bags that we get,” said an official at the NCPB.
Some of the firms supplying NCPB with the fertiliser include Maisha Minerals, the dealers of Mavuno, Minjingu Mines, Fanisi and OCP Kenya.
The government has set aside Sh5.7 billion to subsidies 2,280,000 bags of 50kg bags for farmers growing food crops.
These quantities will support the cultivation of 1.13 million acres of farm land with farmers paying Sh2,800 per bag from a high of Sh6,200 at the market.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya had told Parliament in March that his ministry needed at least Sh31.8 billion to effectively offer the subsidy to farmers.
The CS said should the ministry get the Sh31 billion the price of the planting fertiliser (Diamonium Phosphate) would drop to Sh2,800.
Fertiliser for maize farmers was not included in the current budget, however, other crops such as coffee and tea received Sh1 billion each with sugar getting Sh1.5 billion.
