How Nyandarua farmers will get low cost fertiliser

The County Executive for Agriculture, Dr James Karitu have disclosed that Nyandarua farmers will acquire the subsidised fertiliser from nearest agro vets using vouchers and tokens.

Karitu said the farmers will be issued with vouchers, which they will present to the agro vet shops where they will be given the agriculture input. He said the new process will be piloted in Mirangine sub-county in Nyandarua.

.

Keep Reading

• Fewer farmers access fertiliser in January as food prices expected to drop in coming months- CBK Forecast
• State enhances cash for fertilizers

In the past, the farmers collected the commodity from National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) stores using authorization from the agriculture department.

This process has proved to be prone to fraud as non-farmers have been accessing large quantities of the input which they repackage and sell at higher prices.

He said potato farming was the leading activity by local people but added that production per hectare was still very low. He said the County has trained over 10,000 potato and dairy farmers in a bid to have them practice smart farming.

“Our production is between 15 and 17 metric tons per hectare, which is low compared to 40 tons that is supposed to be released,” Mr Karitu said adding that the farmer can break even by having high yields per hectare.

Karitu said the County government was aware that farmers were facing challenges in procuring clean potato seeds but added that measure of being put in place to change that. He said lack of seeds will be a thing of the past when the County’s laboratory at ATC start producing potato seeds through tissue culture.

On the perennial potato price fluctuation, the Executive said the government was trying to address that by constructing cold storage facilities where farmers can keep their produce when prices are low and sell when the price improves.

He said since potato farming in the County depended on rainwater, the farmers across the County plant and harvest at the same time thus causing a glut that brings down prices.

“We are also encouraging individuals to put up own small cold stores or form groups to build one where they will be storing the potatoes to wait for prices to improve,” Dr Karitu said.

He said the County government had some samples of small cold storage facilities to guide individuals who wish to build their own. Karitu said the County was also promoting rabbit and fish farming, with some dams already stocked with fingerings.

Trade, Industry and Cooperatives executive, Raphael Njui urged farmers to upgrade their method of farming through the use of machines and value addition to their produce instead of selling it raw.

“The potato we produce can earn us money if we can process it into various products before taking it to the market,” Njui said.

He urged the Nyandarua chapter of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) to market the County so that investors can put up manufacturing industries here. The two County executives were speaking at Ol Kalou stadium last week during a one day show to promote dairy and poultry farming in the County. The show was jointly organized by the County government and the KNCCI branch.