Farmers in Embu have gotten a reprieve following the arrival of the first batch of government-subsidised fertiliser at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot.
Two trucks carrying 1, 200 bags of NPK fertiliser arrived on Monday and offloaded in readiness to dispatch the much-needed commodity to farmers across the county as planting gets underway.
However, leaders at hand to receive the consignment led by Manyatta MP Gitonga Mukunji said the quantity was too little to benefit all the 90, 000 registered famers.
They called on the government to fast-track issuance of the 400, 000 bags that was allocated the county to enable all farmers receive their apportionment as per registered acreage.
“We need as a matter of urgency, not less than 100, 000 bags to make sure that every registered farmer gets his/her rightful share,” MP Mukunji said.He also said that a proper distribution structure should also be put in place to ensure the fertiliser is brought close to farmers to save them from incurring another cost in transportation.
CEC in charge of Agriculture John Ndwiga called on the government to also release the top-dressing fertilisers early enough to make sure it is utilised at the appropriate time.He said this was the only way to ensure farmers will be able to realise maximum yields on their farms towards attainment of food security in the county.
Ndwiga also said the registration of farmers was still going on and urged more farmers to do so to benefit from government fertiliser subsidy.
By Samuel Waititu
