The government has halved the price of a 2-kilogramme packet of maize seed to Sh300 and cut the cost of a 50-kilogramme bag of fertiliser to Sh2,000 to help drought-hit farmers resume cultivation.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Dr Paul Kipronoh Ronoh said the lower prices would reduce production costs ahead of the next planting season.
“Maize seeds have been reduced from Sh600 per two-kilogramme pack to Sh300 per two-kilogramme pack,” Ronoh said during a Kenya Seed Company field day at Elgon Down Farm in Endebess, Trans Nzoia County.
He announced that fertilizer prices have also been reduced from the current Sh2,500 to Sh2,000 per 50-kilogramme pack.
Ronoh said prolonged drought had exposed the vulnerability of rain-fed agriculture as climate change makes rainfall less predictable.
“Quite a number of farmers have been affected by drought, and this is what we are calling climate change,” he said.
He urged farmers to return to their farms and adopt early-maturing crops to reduce exposure to prolonged dry spells.
Kenya Seed Managing Director Sammy Chepsiror said the company produces about 42 million kilogrammes of seed for Kenya and the wider region, with private firms supplying the deficit.
“Kenya Seed Company is expanding research and production of high-yielding, climate-resilient and pest-resistant varieties,” said Mr. Rono.
The government has also directed the Seed company to distribute sunflower seed within a month to boost domestic edible oil production and reduce imports.
“Already we have the seeds. Kenya Seed will distribute the sunflowers within the next one month,” Ronoh said.
He said sunflower offers a short-season crop option and could help address the country’s edible oil deficit. Kenya Seed will work with farmers and cooperatives to expand production.
The government also plans to construct 50 mega-dams to expand irrigation and reduce reliance on rainfall.
“The government is also putting up a plan to really try to capture this rainwater for irrigation, so that we move from rain-fed agriculture to irrigated agriculture,” Ronoh said.
Ronoh said climate-resilient seed and irrigation would be critical to increasing food production and strengthening food security.
The field day was attended by researchers and seed-sector stakeholders from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo focused on increasing access to quality certified seed amid climate change, pests and unpredictable weather.
