Ruto says will return ADC land 'if allocated'

Assistant minister for Agriculture Gideon Ndambuki gives his address during the opening of a fertiliser workshop at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute on August 20, 2009. Photo/CHRIS OJOW

What you need to know:

  • Ruto says he is unaware of the land allocation.
  • Minister named in Parliament as one of Agricultural Development Corporation land allottees.

Agriculture minister William Ruto will return 20 acres of Agricultural Development Corporation land “if indeed he was allocated,” two of his Ministry officials said Thursday.

Permanent Secretary Romano Kiome and Assistant minister Gideon Ndambuki said they had consulted the Eldoret North MP who said he was unaware of the allocations.

“He doesn’t know he was allocated. He said if indeed he was allocated he will ask them to take it back. He is ready to surrender the land to ADC if it is true he was given,” Mr Ndambuki said.

The Assistant minister made the remarks after opening the 6th National Fertiliser Conference at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute headquarters in Nairobi.

Parastatal land

Mr Ruto was among prominent personalities named in Parliament on Wednesday as having been allocated the parastatal land.

Dr Kiome and Mr Ndambuki urged all those who were given ADC, Kari and Ministry of Agriculture land to return them “whether they had a title deed or not.”

They said the grabbing of the farms had compromised food security in he country and forced the ministry to use huge sums of money to hire farms for demonstrations or growing of crops.

“We don’t want to fight the allottees. They should nicely surrender the farms as they belong to all Kenyans,” Mr Ndambuki said.

Last year, the Assistant minister said, the ministry used Sh84 million to hire farms for among other things bulking of traditional crops seeds.

Generally, Dr Kiome said, the ministry has been spending three times more on hiring farms compared to if it used its own.

This year, he said, the Ministry plans to use Sh580 million to pay seed companies to produce the commodities for it for distribution to farmers in famine hit areas.

He said the hiring of farms also resulted to low productivity.

Dr Kiome said his ministry was following the Ndungu Report on land which requires that grabbed Kari, ADC and the Ministry’s land be returned.

He said the Ministry’s hands were tied as some of the allottees had title deeds issued by the government.

Fertiliser factory

The PS urged the private sector to assist in establishment of a fertiliser factory in the country to lower costs and boost food production.

He said the government plans to increase usage of fertiliser in the country through importation of more than one million tones of the commodity annually.

International Fertiliser Development Centre, President Amit Roy the world food security can be attained through high production agriculture .

Africa, he added, could attain food security through focused interventions like subsidies by governments to farmers and efficient fertiliser procurement.