Ruto orders subsidized fertilizer be distributed through county government’s village stores in Kirinyaga
President William Ruto has directed all the subsidized fertilizer in Kirinyaga be distributed through the County Government stores at the subcounty level.
This will reduce high cost of transportation and time wasted travelling long distance to collect the commodity at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot at Sagana.
The directive follows a request by Governor Anne Waiguru who promised the County Government would provide stores for the fertilizer in all sub-counties.
Waiguru thanked the President for lowering the cost of 50-kg bag of fertilizer from Ksh.3500 to Ksh.2500 saying this will boost crop production.
However, she said the effect of lowering the price of fertilizer would only be felt by the farmers if the commodity is taken to the village stores where farmers in the far-flung areas don’t have to use lot of money on transport to get fertilizer to their farms.
“Your Excellency we have famers before you and we want to thank you for the subsidized fertilizer. However, this fertilizer is being distributed through the Sagana depot and it is very far for farmers in far-flung areas, our humble request is for the fertilizer to be taken to the villages, the County government will provide stores for the commodity,” she said.
The Council of Governors (CoG) chairperson said apart from NCPB depot and coffee factories, more avenues for distribution of the fertilizers in villages will increase uptake and use of fertilizer for crop production.
This did not go well with Senator Kamau Murango who when he was given a chance to speak, asked the President not to accept Governor Waiguru’s request and instead let the fertilizer be distributed through NCPB’s Sagana depot and coffee factories.
“Your excellency there is no need of county government opening stores for the distribution of the subsidized fertilizer, let it continue being distributed through NCPB and coffee factory stores,” he said.
His contradictory sentiments appeared to have angered crowd which had attended the event with some resulting to heckling.
“No! no! no!” the crowd shouted.
This forced President Ruto to quickly intervene and usher in another speaker.
However, President Ruto had already issued directive for the fertilizer to be distributed through the county Government’s stores once they are availed by the governor.
“On fertilizer, I agree with Governor Waiguru’s request and we will distribute the commodity through the county stores once they are provided by the governor,” the President said while responding to Waiguru’s request.
Ruto said decentralizing distribution of the fertilizer is at the interest of farmers as this will increase uptake for increased food production.
The President encouraged farmers across the country to redouble the use of the subsidized fertilizers saying this the easiest way to increase production, thus lowering the high cost of living.
“We are supporting farmers to lower the cost of production through agriculture subsidized fertilizers so that the farmer can produce more food because we know this the way to reduce the cost of living,” Ruto added.
He said the agriculture revitalization support which includes scrapping of import duty on raw materials for the processing of animal feeds is intended to support food security and self-sufficiency, as well as to reduce the production cost and increase the income of farmers.
