Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi now says Kenyans should expect the arrival of cheaper maize in the country by the first week of April, expressing confidence that soon the price of unga will start to drop.
The CS said the government is targeting to distribute up to 5.4 million bags of subsidized fertilizer to the farmers for long rains season. As of now, Linturi said that 1.2 million bags have already been received.
“In terms of fertilizer that is required for planting, which is immediate, we have enough. By the time we get to the next phase of top dressing, the other fertilizer will have come,” he said.
At a time the government has been looking for solutions to the expensive farming input, wooing investors to put up fertilizer plants in the country, Linturi said they’re already in talks to try fertilizer produced in Tanzania for the Tanzanian farms.
“You have seen me going to Tanzania…I have written to the minister for Tanzania to seek an exemption for the investor who is producing fertilizer in Tanzania. I have asked them to give me the authority to authorise him to ship in at least 200,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer in the country,” he stated.
And to deal with the effects of perennial droughts, CS Linturi who recently toured Zambia is considering contracting farmers in Zambia to grow maize for Kenyans.
“Tukiweza kuwaweka wakulima katika contract farming, wale kule Zambia kwa ile mpango niliyo nayo, in another six months tutaweza kuwa na mahindi zaidi ya kutosha kwa sababu itakuwa inazalishwa ikijulikana inakuja Kenya,” said the CS.
The government allowed the importation of duty-free cereals. On Sunday Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua explained the scarcity of maize globally. Linturi now says more maize should arrive by the first week of April.
“In the month of April we expect more maize coming in. For now, we have received very little from Ethiopia from two companies. The quantity so far is very minimal, actually just 2,000 tonnes…in another month, we will have flooded this country with maize and rice,” noted the Agriculture CS.
Linturi said the new Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management Information System will soon be complete to facilitate seamless distribution of farming inputs and extension services to known farmers.
