Fertiliser prices to remain at Sh2,500 a bag, PS says

Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Ronoh tests tea samples during the tea competition in Mombasa county on September 4, 2024. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Ronoh has said farmers across the country will continue to buy fertiliser at Sh2,500.

While flagging off consignment of fertiliser at the Port of Mombasa, Ronoh said the farmers will, in two weeks, receive the commodity from their factories.

"We are here from the Ministry of Agriculture to flag one million bags of fertilisers. It will be distributed within two weeks and collected at tea trading centers. Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) will receive another one million bags from Russia in the next three weeks," he said.

The PS noted that the tea sector is critical in the economy having contributed four percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"KTDA bought the fertilisers, and we are fulfilling the promise of subsidies and in the next three weeks, another batch of 1 million bags will arrive and will be trading at Sh2500," said Ronoh.

He said farmers generated Sh200 billion from Sh138 billion, attributing it to good rains and subsidized fertiliser.

The PS urged farmers to ensure adequate quality tea stock at their factories to earn high bonuses.

He regretted that some factories received low bonuses because of poor tea quality and high operation costs.

"We have looked into the complaints of low bonuses and raised the issue of operations challenges. The bonuses some factories get are low compared to other factories due to low tea quality and high operation costs," said Ronoh.

KTDA Chair Enos Njeru said that farmers have concentrated on producing quantity rather than quality tea, leading to high volumes of unsold teas.

He said the farmers have waited for the fertilisers since August and blamed the delay to long distances the ships have to cover.

"The fertilisers have taken a long time, but we are grateful farmers have received them at lower prices. This is the third year we have been receiving a subsidy on fertilizer," said Njeru.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director William Ruto said offloading time has been reduced from 15 days to four days.

"We appreciate our government for helping our farmers. The ship will complete offloading today. In the past, it took 15 days to offload the fertilizer but it now takes only four days," said Ruto.
He said tea needs to be ordered on time due to the long shipping route.