Migori National Cereals and Produce Board (NCCB) has extended the window for farmers to collect their subsidised fertilizer from seven to 30 days to ease the long queues witnessed in recent weeks.
Migori NCPB Manager Eric Machora said that the dateline was agreed upon by the county agricultural committee to address the worrying concerns of the farmers.
He also noted that the agricultural committee reduced the number of fertilizers per farmer to a maximum of five bags to ensure that at least every person gets the commodity.
“Every person will get their right quantity of fertilizer in their invoices but right now, we are giving each farmer a chance to get something to enable them utilise the short rains,” noted Machora.
He noted that the farmers would be notified of the quantity of fertilizers bags they have taken and the balance which could be retaken on a later day.
However, farmers lamented over the slow pace of fertilizer delivery which has seen long queues for weeks.
Benson Oliang’a, a farmer from Migori said that the flow of the procedure at the depot was slow and tiresome.
He urged the management of the depot to have an orderly procedure to address the ever-growing queues that have been witnessed for weeks.
Oliang’a affirmed that the majority of farmers were camping as early as 3 O’clock in the morning yet they were unable to collect their fertilizer the same day.
He asked the depot management to devolve the sector to the sub-county level in order for the farmers to take advantage the short rains being experienced in the county.
The farmers also welcomed the move by the agricultural committee to extend the seven-day dateline in their invoice to 30 days saying that it would help more farmers to collect their fertilizer in readiness for the planting season that has already commenced.
By Geoffrey Makokha
