Farmers will have to prove among others ownership of land.
Growers will then be issued with the input based on the type of their soil as the government moves to address high acidity that has led to reduced fertility.
The team will be charged with the responsibility of verifying the size of the farmer’s land and, if indeed, they own that piece of farm.
Farmers will undergo strict vetting in sub-counties before they are issued with the one million bags of subsidised fertiliser for planting.
This will be done by a committee comprising chiefs, religious leaders and agriculture officials to curb the practice of re-selling the farm input at market rate.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Managing Director Albin Sang said the exercise will decide the number of bags that a farmer will get and the type of fertiliser to be issued.
Growers will then be issued with the input based on the type of their soil as the government moves to address high acidity that has led to reduced fertility.
The team will be charged with the responsibility of verifying the size of the farmer’s land and, if indeed, they own that piece of farm.
“We are not taking chances and that is why we want to ensure that we have an elaborate vetting team so can be sure we are dealing with genuine farmers,” said Mr Sang.
He added that farmers who have leased land will have to show the contract between the owner of the piece and the person hiring.
The State has purchased 635,000 bags of fertiliser under Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) while 400,000 bags are carryover stocks from the previous imports.
The Ministry of Agriculture is targeting small-scale holders in the guidelines issued to NCP
Two million bags
The Ministry normally imports close to two million bags of fertiliser every year, which is about 20 percent of the total fertiliser market in the country.
The private sector provides 80 percent of the country’s total needs.
The farm input 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.
The State had planned to buy 1.8 million bags of fertiliser this year, before the process was hit by a procurement hitch.
Planting season
Distribution of fertiliser during planting season has been a perennial challenge that farmers have been facing over years.
As this planting season begins, some growers are reported to have opted to plant maize without fertiliser, owing to the delay in distribution as traders took advantage to steeply increase their retail prices.
But food experts are warning of a decline in maize yields next season.
“We are staring at a looming disaster since most farmers have embarked on maize planting without fertiliser. Some of them have been forced to reduce the acreage under maize due to lack of capital,” said Mr Ezekiel Kosgei, an Eldoret-based private land economist.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
