Farmers camp at Eldoret NCPB depot as fertiliser shortage bites

Farmers offload fertiliser from a truck. Farmers in North Rift counties are lamenting over the shortage of topdressing fertiliser. [File, Standard] 

Shortage of topdressing fertiliser across maize-producing counties in North Rift has forced farmers to camp at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot in Eldoret.

On Tuesday, the shortage sparked outrage with farmers expressing displeasure over what they termed as the government's failure to address a supply hitch.

Hundreds of agitated farmers who have been waiting for topdressing fertiliser, Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN) at the Eldoret depot for the last two weeks, hit out at the Ministry of Agriculture for failure to supply the critical input to stores on time.

The farmers lamented that the maize crop across the region is outgrowing the topdressing stage, but NCPB stores are stocked with planting fertiliser instead of ammonia, which is required for healthy growth and better harvest.

A source at NCPB, said the board charged with the distribution of fertiliser to stores closer to farmers, claimed that the shortage was occasioned by demands by transporters for additional pay following the increase in fuel prices.

Farmers led by Kipkorir Menjo warned that the fertiliser shortage would result in a poor harvest this season.

Mr Menjo, who is a director at Kenya Farmers Association (KFA) accused the Agriculture Ministry of poor supply of the input, claiming that it was unnecessary to distribute more planting fertiliser during the topdressing period.

“When we needed planting fertiliser, the government offloaded more topdressing fertiliser. Now that we require topdressing input, the state is supplying more planting fertiliser. We don’t know who is misadvising the government,” he said.

He said the country should expect reduced maize harvest this year if the adequate topdressing fertiliser is not distributed within this week.

“The government can’t claim that there is a shortage of fertiliser when it has all the statistics that show the needs of each farmer in their records,” said Menjo.

Farmers who are yet to get their allocation of topdressing fertiliser said they have spent more cash travelling to Eldoret every day to collect the input.

Jane Kwambai, who claims to have pitched camp at the Eldoret NCPB for the past one week, said she was informed that she would only get three bags out of the ten bags that she had ordered.

“I have spent a lot of money on the road traveling to Eldoret City from Kiplombe to get topdressing fertiliser. I have been informed that I would get three bags out of ten because there is a shortage. I don’t know where I will get the remaining seven bags,” a frustrated Ms Kwambai said.

Stephen Korat, who has been travelling from Elgeyo Marakwet to collect the input, claimed that NCPB depots in the neighbouring county had not been receiving topdressing fertiliser due to the shortage.

Korat asked President William Ruto to intervene in the matter, claiming that the distribution hitch was derailing the fertiliser programme.

“It makes no sense to celebrate the reduction of fertiliser to Sh2500 per bag, yet farmers are spending more money because there is a shortage. We want to ask you, President, to intervene because farmers in your backyard are disappointed,” said Korat.

NCPB regional manager Gilbert Rotich assured farmers that distribution of the season’s topdressing demand of over 3.2 million bags will be in stores within two weeks.

Rotich attributed the fertiliser shortage to the high demand for the input this season.

“There are 13,000 bags of topdressing en route to the North Rift region from one of our suppliers. We are over 90 per cent in distribution and we should conclude supply to the region within the next two weeks,” the regional manager said.

A source at NCPB said: “The main problem is that transporters have been demanding additional pay because fuel prices increased last month.”