President William Ruto on Sunday, January 14, received a boost to his subsidised fertiliser program after receiving a 16,000 tonnes donation from the government of Algeria.
As reported by Algere 54, the fertiliser was donated after a directive from President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
“This is Urea 46, an essential fertilizer for fertilizing land to improve yields,” Algere 54 reported.
Urea is part of the types of fertilisers that are offered at subsidised rates by the government through the Ministry of Agriculture.
The list of subsidised fertilisers available for Kenyan farmers includes; Urea, DAP, CAN, NPK, MOP, and Sulphate Ammonia.
Available at National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depots and Sub-depots country-wide, the fertiliser is bought or received as a donation by the Kenyan government.
It is then sold at affordable rates to Kenyan farmers for an average of Ksh2,500 per bag.
On January 9, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi assured the country that there would be enough subsidised fertiliser for the mid-February planting season.
The donation from Algeria will go a long way in helping Kenya achieve its target of distributing 7 million bags of fertiliser to farmers for the 2024 long and short rains seasons.
Algeria noted that the donation was part of its development aid policy for African countries.
“It is worth remembering that during the inauguration of the national production fair last December, President Tebboune announced during his visit to the Asmidal stand that Africa is a priority for exports from fertilizer, a strategic product in high demand around the world,” it was reported during the donation.
On December 9, 2022, the then-Foreign Affairs CS Alfred Mutua remarked that Kenya would benefit from subsidised fertiliser from Algeria.
This was during a high-level trade meeting with his then-Algerian counterpart Ramtane Lamamra.
“Kenya will benefit from subsidized fertiliser and oil and gas as well as pharmaceutical industries through Public Private Partnership (PPP) deals,” CS Mutua announced at the time.
