Economy

NCPB to distribute subsidised fertiliser by end of week

boga

Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) will start distributing a million bags of fertiliser to farmers before end of the week as the planting season begins in the country’s bread basket region.

Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga said 635,000 bags of the farm input were purchased under Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) while 400,000 bags were carry-over stocks from previous imports.

Prof Boga said the Sh2 billion fertiliser ordered by the State recently might not get in the country on time.

“We have about a million bags of fertiliser that we are starting to distribute anytime from now,” said Prof Boga in an interview yesterday.

The fertiliser will be sold at Sh1,800 for a 50 kilogramme bag of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), which is normally used for planting, with other brands such as NPK going at Sh1,700 for the same quantity, said the Agriculture PS.

Under the AGPO programme, youth, women and disabled people are given opportunity to participate in government tenders.

The PS said, unlike other years, the ministry was targeting small-scale holders.

The NCPB Managing Director Albin Sang on Thursday confirmed the fertiliser had been distributed to their depots, noting that they were only waiting for guidelines to from the ministry.