Fertiliser rejected by farmers still at depot

A parliamentary committee was on Thursday shocked to find the National Cereals and Produce Board depot in Nakuru fully packed with fertiliser despite numerous complaints of a shortage of the commodity.

The National Assembly Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, which was on a fact-finding tour, also visited the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) in Lanet.

The committee, led by Mr Adan Haji, found the fertiliser at the Nakuru depot, which, according to the officials, was rejected by the farmers.

In the past one month, there have been complaints of a shortage of the government-subsidised fertiliser, prompting the committee to visit the region to investigate the “shortage”.

“Our tour was motivated by information going round that there is no fertiliser in the region and that there is cheap maize making its way from neighbouring Uganda. We have, however, established that there is a lot of fertiliser in Nakuru, said Mr Adan.

READ: Farmers face tough times as payment and fertiliser delay

However, the fertiliser available at the NCPB, which was rejected by farmers, is the NPK variety.

NCPB officials explained that farmers prefer DAP fertiliser which has been found to be unsuitable for the soils in the South Rift region.

Although both types of fertiliser are sold at the same price of Sh 1,500, the farmers still prefer to use DAP.

“Farmers were advised to use the NPK fertiliser after a soil test done in 2014 which indicated that use of DAP was causing acidity in the soil,” said Nakuru County Director of Agriculture Grace Kirui.

For the NPK fertiliser, the farmer is required to use two bags per acre while only one bag of DAP is required for use in an acre, hence its preference by the farmers.

“We have enough planting fertiliser for the whole of the South Rift, but the farmers only want DAP.,” explained Ms Kirui.