Russia offers free fertilizer to Kenya hours after Ruto announced lower prices
Kenyan farmers eagerly await the arrival of more than 34,000 tonnes of donated mineral fertilizer from the Russian Uralchem-Uralkali Group.
The Russian Embassy in Kenya announced, “More than 34,000 tonnes of fertilizer donated to Kenya by the Russian Uralchem-Uralkali Group are now being reformulated to produce 100, 200 tonnes of fertilizer. This will help Kenya a lot to get a good harvest this year.”
The donation comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s promise at the Russia Africa Summit to provide free-of-charge mineral fertilizers to “destitute countries” in Africa, including Kenya and Malawi.
“This is a purely humanitarian campaign that should not be subject to any sanctions whatsoever. This is about free of charge supplies to poorest countries in Africa that are in dire need since we expect a record high harvest this year,” said President Putin.
While some Kenyans welcomed the news and viewed it as much-needed assistance for farmers, others expressed skepticism about the government’s handling of the free fertilizer distribution.
“Kenyans, President Putin says Russia gave Kenya 34,000 metric tonnes of free fertilizer. Question: Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, where is the donation?” asked Mr Kabando wa Kabando, the former member of Parliament for Mukureweini.
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These sentiments came a few hours after President William Ruto announced on August 2, at State House Nairobi that the government will distribute fertilizer at subsidized costs.
“To facilitate improved production, the government distributed over 3.5 million bags of fertilizer at a subsidized cost of Ksh3,500 to nearly five million farmers. Moving forward, subsidized fertilizer will now cost Ksh2,500. In addition, we are setting aside Ksh 10 billion to provide loans to farmers at a single digit. To manage post-harvest losses and protect the produce, driers will be positioned across the country at National Cereals and Produce Board depots,” said President Ruto as part of his measures to further increase food production.
To purchase government-subsidized fertilizers, Kenyan farmers must register with local administrators.
The registration exercise began on January 4, 2023. However, a section of Kenyans claimed that even after registering, they were not able to purchase the subsidized fertilizer due to its unavailability while others claimed they were able to purchase the product at increased prices than that announced by the government.
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