The farmers say they are likely to get late for planting as several parts of the county start to receive rain.
According to the farmers, the requirement to only purchase subsidised fertiliser through the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has slowed down access to the commodity.
The farmers claim the payment process is tedious and now want the Ministry of Agriculture to review it since most of them have to travel for long distances to make payments.
“After vetting by the Ministry of Agriculture, the farmers were asked to make payment for the bags they required at Kenya Commercial Bank branches across the country. The banks are few and only available in several towns which is making it hard for farmers to access them,” Mbugua Mwangi, a farmer in Lari said.
The most affected area is the expansive and arable Lari sub-county which doesn’t have a KCB branch.
Rosemary Nyambura said some of the farmers have been forced to travel to Naivasha, Githunguri and Limuru towns to make payments for the fertiliser, and come with a bank slip to collect be commodity at Lari.
“We had been told it was mandatory for us to pay at the bank itself, and we did not have a choice. We had to travel long distances, spend time and fare,” she said.
However, during the commissioning of the sale of the subsidised fertilisers at Pyrethrum grounds in Kimende town, area MP Mburu Kahangara discussed the issue with NCPB officials and agreed that farmers should be allowed to pay through the authorized KCB agents in the area.
“The government is committed to supporting farmers at all cost and we decided to change the strategy of paying and now farmers can pay through agents and bring the slips to the NCPB officials who then will release the fertilisers to them,” he said.
The legislator urged farmers to take the advantage of the subsidised fertilisers to increase their production.
“We are hoping that more fertilizer will soon be availed to farmers so that those with large farms can buy enough”, he said while thanking President William Ruto for honouring his promise on subsidising fertiliser.
Kahangara said if farmers were adequately supported, the country would not be heavily affected by hunger and would produce enough for its people and sell the surplus.
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