Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) has appealed to the government to give tea farmers fertilizer subsidy to boost their production.
According to KTDA Nyamira South sub county director Simion Ogoti, the agency was disappointed to find that the government was backtracking on the promise it had made to farmers on the subsidy fertilizer.
He said not only Nyamira county farmers will be affected but also over 260, 000 small scale tea farmer across the country are likely to miss out on a Sh600 million fertilizer subsidy promised by national government last year.
“We are asking the government to bail out farmers as it did for year 2014/15 when they received a Sh321 subsidy per 50 kg bag,” he added.
He noted that former Agriculture Minister Felix Koskei had promised that farmers would get a Sh500 per 50 kilogram bag of fertilizer at a subsidized cost.
The official was today at Kebirigo Tea Factory during this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) where he said the move will deny farmers a subsidy this time round was a big disappointment.
The official noted that last year, KTDA imported more than Sh64, 200 metric tons of fertilizer between July and August last year to be distributed across the country, which translated to over 1.3 million bags.
He said the cost of fertilizer for each factory throughout the country varied depending on the distance, if and when other factors remained constant.