As a short-term fix to the commodity’s increase in prices, the Council of Governors (CoG) demanded that the government remove fertiliser items from VAT.
At a news conference yesterday in Nairobi, CoG chairman Martin Wambora suggested that the government should consider subsidising agriculture supplies by 50 per cent.
“CoG urges the Agriculture ministry to apply government subsidy and lift this burden from Kenyans. We propose that the Ministry exempts fertiliser products from VAT and Import duty or subsidise farm inputs by 50 per cent in order to lower prices. This is the only immediate and short-term solution to the ongoing problem in the sector,” he added.
Wambora also slammed the National Treasury for not disbursing monies to counties on time, claiming that just 54 per cent of the whole allotment had been distributed.
For the Financial Year 2021/22, this translates to Sh199.882 billion out of a total of Sh370 billion allocated to counties.
“The council is disappointed that the mediation process has not commenced despite constitution of the mediation committee.
“Treasury should expedite the release of the outstanding County equitable share of revenue without any further delays while the Senate and National Assembly should fast-track consideration of the Grants Bill,” Wambora said.
On drought situation, Wambora said limited resources had been set aside to complement efforts of county governments to mitigate the effects of drought especially in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands counties.
Currently, more than 3.1 million people are food insecure in 24 counties, with over 360,000 people in the emergency phase.
“In order to contain the consequences of loss of livestock, we urge Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizens and Special Programmes, as well as development partners, to support counties to ensure provision of timely and humanitarian livestock assistance and the required drought response action,” he said.
Kenyan farmers have to consider other options for farming this planting season after the major global fertiliser producers announced suspension of export, an important component for its production.
An importer, Henry Ogola, noted that some farmers will have to plant without the nutrients.
“Fertiliser prices will remain volatile due to global market forces of supply and demand which might force some farmers to plant without the nutrients,” Ogola said.
China, the world’s top exporter of phosphate, says it will suspend sales until June to boost supplies in its home market, even if global demand outstrips production due to a decline in supply of raw materials.
This is piling pressure on local farmers who are preparing for this season’s planting.
Farmers have been forced to plant without fertilizer as prices hit a record of Sh6200, up from Sh3000 per 50kg per bag.