Farmers have been cautioned against starting to plant on the account of rainfall currently being registered in parts of the country.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga asked them to wait for the main March-April-May rain season or risk losses.
Farmers have been cautioned against starting to plant on the account of rainfall currently being registered in parts of the country.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga asked them to wait for the main March-April-May rain season or risk losses.
“Farmers should not rush into planting at this time as the country is still in dry spell period,” he said.
Normally, farmers start planting in March of every year but others basing on availability of rains start in February.
Rains have been reported in some parts of the country in the past few weeks, prompting some farmers in areas such as the country’s main bread basket in the North Rift to begin preparing their farms for planting.
Prof Boga said growers should wait until next month but that again will be informed by reports from the weatherman.
Normally farmers start planting in March but others start in February basing on availability of rains.
“We are going to get information from the meteorological department on the rains this season then we shall update the farmers,” he said.
Prof Boga said the government has already issued e-vouchers to smallholder farmers and are due for cashing as they prepare for the planting season.
Under the e-voucher programme, a number of agrovet have been registered with the government to participate.
his is a shift from the previous arrangement where farmers would collect the subsidy fertiliser at the National Cereals and Produce deports.
Farmers are issued with the e-vouchers through their mobile phones after validation by extension officers. They will then be given a paybill number to make payments and receive a text message confirmation from Safaricom.
Once a farmer's payment has been made, it will trigger the government side that supports this programme, which will then pay the balance to ensure the agro dealer gets a hundred percent of the total amount needed for a given input.
Through this programme, the farmer will pay 40 per cent of the entire cost with remainder to be met by the government.
This is part of the wider plan by the government to address the challenge of low yields.
Farmers in the North rift have raised concerns over the high cost of fuel following the recent adjustment, pointing out that the move will impact negatively on the cost of production.
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