The DAP planting fertilizer will be selling for Ksh.3,100 per 50 Kg bag, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya has said.
The same planting fertilizer will be sold at Ksh. 3,200 under the Ministry of Agriculture E-voucher programme, he added
Normally under the e-voucher programme, farmers pay 40 percent and Government tops up with 60 percent.
The prices will be the 2021 pricing given, following National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and Kenya National Trading (KNTC) having been identified to supply affordable fertilizer through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives.
According the CS, the pricing has been negotiated taking consideration of COVID-19 pandemic, Exchange rates and fuel prices.
In statement today after giving a review on the sugarcane prices, the CS said “We believe the negotiated pricing will go a long way in bringing down the cost of production to farmers in in view of prevailing economic circumstances in Kenya and world”.
Munya added that NCPB has been authorized to sale GOK residue balance of subsidized fertilizer in various stores across the country at normal government subsidized rate to all farmers without vetting procedure.
Meanwhile, the CS has clarified that the recent stoppage of unsafe maize from EAC was necessitated by continuous surveillance on the safety of food imports to Kenya where tests results for maize imported from Uganda and Tanzania revealed high levels of aflatoxin
In order to address the urgent food safety concerns, the CS noted that they have put a stoppage of unsafe maize from all destinations and measures have been put in place to facilitate safe trade of maize and other related food commodities
“Registration of all dealers of food crops including the transporters, importers and processors are advised to log on to www.afa.imis.go.ke for requirements for registration and they will be vetted and approval granted through issuance of a Registration Certificate”, he said .
He added that successful applicants shall be notified on the need to apply for pre shipment documents stating the source of produce, purpose and destination including the storage facility where the produce shall be offloaded.
Munya has also clarified that all consignments shall be accompanied by documents including the Certificate of Conformity (COC) of the produce issued by a Competent Authority from the exporting country processed through the KENTRADE single window system to be verified and approved by the crops inspectors.
Additionally, he added that random sampling shall be done at the border points with rapid testing to confirm that the grain is as per the conformity certificate issued by the exporting country.
“We are engaging EACC and DCI to crack down on corrupt practices by Government officers at the Border who are accepting bribes in exchange for maize entry approval stamps without inspection and verification”, he said .
Munya has further noted that AFA is working in collaboration with the regulators/competent authorities from the exporting countries to provide guidelines on how to meet the relevant EAC standards.
The Government of Kenya through the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) on 5th March 2021, issued stringent maize import regulations based on the findings of a survey conducted by AFA which showed that maize from the two countries is unfit for human consumption due to levels of mycotoxins that were consistently beyond safety limits.
The Food crops sub-sector has always been unregulated since independence and this has led to many malpractices including unmonitored imports and cross-border trade leading to poor quality and unsafe crop produce and products.
By Wangari Ndirangu
