The government is being urged to expand farm inputs available to farmer through the e-voucher programme rolled out by the government under the fertilizer subsidy programme.
Speaking during the 4th Agriculture Summit, Agriculture Sector Network Chairman Dr Bimal Kanatria called on the government to expand products available through the e-voucher programme in order to allow farmer access various farm inputs in a bid to enhance food security.
“The national subsidy in fertilizer was an excellent idea when the prices of fertilizer were its peak. We are now encouraging government that since fertilizer prices have come down to pre-COVID levels, maybe it is time for the government to reduce spending directly on fertilizer and come up with the e-voucher programme,” said Dr Kantaria.
Under the fertilizer subsidy programme, 6.15 million farmers have been registered enabling the disbursement of 8.6 million bags of fertilizer compared to 1.4 million bags in 2022.
Through the programme, the government also aided a drop in the cost of fertilizer per bag, from an average of Ksh 6,000 to Ksh 2,500.
“E-voucher are important because it gives farmers a wallet on their phone and he can buy fertilizer, chemicals and seeds,” said Kantaria. “We are very happy with the government’s fertilizer programme it’s been excellent and because of them we have had a record bumper harvest this year.”
In a bid to support the country’s food security efforts, ASNET is further engaging the government to lease at least half of its 1.5 million acres of land to carry out food production.
“The biggest problem private sector finds is that there isn’t enough land for us to cultivate. Government owns about 1.5m acres. And we are encouraging government that at least half of that or 900,000 acres of that, lease it to big institutions for 10 years, we will invest and we will grow food for this country,” he added.
The network has further called on farmers to organize themselves into cooperative movement in order to maximize value addition and enhance their income.
The two day agriculture summit brought together government, private sector and academia with a view of developing and expanding 32 agriculture value chain.
