Govt says it has availed enough fertiliser for North Rift region

The government says that it has availed enough subsidized fertilizer to farmers in the North Rift region.

According to Agriculture PS Richard Lesiyampe, the government 2,758,520 bags, each weighing 50kgs, to be distributed to National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depots across the country for distribution to farmers.

“Out of this, 95,234 bags of DAP and 228,010 bags of NPK 23-23-0 was distributed in Uasin Gishu County through various NCPB depots. Total bags used by close of season were 323,244 bags. The county Government facilitated delivery of fertilizer to farmers in the county,” said the Ministry in a statement.

“All the fertilizer that gets into the country is inspected for quality and standards in the country of origin. It is also thoroughly tested at our port before discharge. Routine testing is also done in the counties by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate (KEPHIS) inspectors to ensure conformity. In the case of the fertilizer in question, all this was done and all the consignments complied with the Kenya Standard and were thus accepted for distribution.”

The statement comes as a response to queries by maize farmers from the North Rift region who had complained that the recent maize disease in the area was as a result of uninspected fertilizer.

“The specific complaints made by farmers in Uasin Gishu, the Ministry dispatched a team of crop protection and fertilizer experts to investigate the cause of the yellowing and advise accordingly. The team included officers from KEPHIS and the County Government,” said the Ministry.

“The team found out that out of the 100,000 hectares of land under maize in the county, only less than 1 per cent of the crop had yellowed. Assessment of farms in Soy, Ziwa ward and Kapsang areas where the problem had been reported, was also done. Preliminary findings indicate that the yellowing was manifested in fields planted with NPK 23-23-0. This is a slow-release fertilizer whose nutrients are available to the crop after 20 days hence yellowing 3 weeks after germination is not unusual.”

The Ministry says that the situation was caused by too much rain at the time, leading to leaching of nitrogen nutrients and poor root formation hence yellowing and stunting of the maize.  KEPHIS is doing further soil and fertilizer tests.

“It was further observed that a lot of the fields which initially showed signs of yellowing now exhibited deep green colour indicative of availability and utilization of nutrients by the maize crop.”

It added: “The Government wishes to assure farmers that the fertilizer distributed in the country and Uasin Gishu County in particular is up to the standard and there is no cause of worry.”