Farmers in the North Rift region have threatened to hold what they have termed as 'a mother of all demonstrations' if the national government will not supply sufficient subsidized fertilizers to them by next week.
Led by the region's Kenya National Federation Of Agricultural Producers (KENFAP) chairman Wilson Kimosong, the farmers said its planting time and yet they have not received the subsidized fertilizers.
“As farmers from the North Rift, we are not happy with the way the national government is handling farmer’s issues concerning fertilizers. We have only received 580,000 bags of fertilizers amid demand of 1.5 million bags. We are really concerned with the continued delays in fertilizer supply and distribution,” the said KENFAP chairman in Eldoret town, Thursday.
“This will badly affect our productivity and will promote despondency among farmers. We call upon the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Mwangi Kiunjuri to work at speed and solve the matter before things get out of hand,” added Kimosong.
He noted that research shows that late planting reduces maize yields by about 4.2 percent and if farmers are supported in a timely manner maize production will go up by 11 percent.
“If the government want the country to be food secure they should bring fertilizers on time and address farmers issue,” he noted.
They further challenged the national government to facilitate the expedition of fertilizer supply and delivery to farmers by restructuring the fertilizer supply and distribution in order to make it more effective and efficient.
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