The government has called on governors to help farmers across the country get subsidised fertilisers in close proximity by opening up satellite stores.
Agriculture Principal Secretary (PS) Kello Harsama said the government was keen on ensuring the attainment of last-mile delivery of fertiliser to all farmers and asked the county bosses to facilitate them by establishing local stores.
Speaking on Wednesday while launching the national last-mile fertiliser distribution drive at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot in Embu, the PS said this will make it easy for those unable to reach NCPD depots that are mostly located in major towns.
The launch saw the commencement of the distribution of 6, 000 bags of fertiliser to farmers across the county.
The PS also launched a farmer registration exercise in the national central farmers’ database named Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management Information System (KIAMIS).
He said this second phase of registration was informed by the need to ensure every farmer was enlisted, as some were left out during the initial phase and the data collected was not well fused.
He said the data will also assist the government in the future in the distribution of other subsidised inputs, such as seeds and pesticides.
The PS assured farmers that there was enough fertiliser ahead of the short rainy planting season and also for all crops, including coffee, tea, rice, and maize.
Governor Cecily Mbarire said they had already set up stores across all the sub-counties to ensure farmers get the commodity at their doorsteps.
“We have registered 24 coffee cooperative societies offices as satellite stores plus five others to facilitate the distribution and also ensure they are manned by armed police officers round the clock,” she said.
She also cautioned farmers against selling fertiliser, saying it will pay back much better if used on crops after harvesting than the little they will get from selling it to other farmers.
By Samuel Waititu
