The Kenyan government through the National Cereals and Produce Board is set to distribute one million bags of subsidized fertilizer to smallholder farmers in preparation for the long season rains from March to May.

A 50kg bag of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) used at planting will be sold to farmers at Sh1800 compared to Sh3,000 to Sh3,300 current market prices.

Farmers can access the fertilizer by visiting the nearest National Cereals and Produce Board depots within their regions.

In this, farmers will be expected to fill in a form indicating the acreage and the types of crops they intend to grow and the quantity of fertilizer to be purchased. They must also have registered with the ministry of agriculture.

Of the one million bags, 635,000 were purchased under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (OGOA) while 400,000 bags were from previous imports into the country.

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Government subsidised fertiliser at the National Cereals and Produce Board depot. Photo/file.

In 2018, the government distributed 2.3m bags of subsidized fertilizer to farmers. However, this year there have been delays in procuring fertilizer worth two billion shillings due to procurement delays.

“The National Cereals Produce Board typically helps in the supply of the subsidised fertilizer but now that there will be delayed importation to June, the prices are likely to skyrocket during the planting season which has already began,” said Kipkorir Menjo, the director of the Kenya Farmers Association, Eldoret.