President Uhuru set to flag off fertiliser to counties

By STANDARD REPORTER

Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta will on Tuesday officially release the national soil test results and flag off lorries containing subsidised fertilisers.

The event is set to take place at Egerton University, Njoro, in Nakuru County.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei said the function would be a clear indication of the Government’s commitment to ensure the country achieves food security.

Briefing the media in his office at Kilimo House, the CS said his ministry was keen on increasing access to agricultural inputs by resource-poor farmers as envisaged in Vision 2030.

The State Department of Agriculture, he said, was implementing the National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Programme (NAAIAP) targeting 2.5 million resource-poor farmers.

Koskei said under this initiative, 142,750 metric tonnes of assorted fertilisers had been imported since the year began, and would be distributed countrywide.

He said fertiliser use in Kenya had grown significantly over the last two decades, but lamented that the average use was less than 10kg per acre, against the recommended rate of 75kg per acre.”

With such low fertiliser use, the nutrient balance in most production systems is negative. This results in depletion of soil nutrients which is a fundamental cause for declining food and cash crop production,” sais Koskei.  “To mitigate environmental concerns on soil health, efficiency and effectiveness of fertiliser use, NAAIAP embarked on countrywide soil testing to inform fertiliser recommendations for different soils and regions,” he said.

NAAIAP contracted the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute in 2012/2013 financial year to analyse soils from 4,470 farmers in 147 sub-counties. 

He said optimal use of fertilisers will enable farmers to improve their yield and ultimately their livelihoods.