Counties

Lamu appeals to cereals board as fertiliser shortage persists

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Offloading fertiliser in the past. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Lamu farmers are facing a shortage of fertiliser following the lack of the commodity at the Mokowe government depot.

Lamu Deputy Governor Eric Mugo, also the county executive for agriculture, said last Friday that the fertiliser shortage in the last two months was holding back planting.

He accused the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) of laxity in distribution; resulting in the shortage across the region.

He said out of the 5,000 bags ordered by the county government from the NCPB, only 2,400 were delivered to the county.

Mr Mugo said due to the large number of farmers thesupply was not enough; he asked the NCPB to deliver the remaining bags within the planting season.

“We are facing a shortage of fertiliser in the entire county. We ordered fertiliser early but so far they have delivered less than half of what we wanted,” said Mr Mugo.

“It’s not enough for all farmers and the planting season is almost over. The farmers don’t know what to do and we have no answers to their questions. The NCPB must do its job so that we can sort out this mess.”