The New Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU) has unveiled the first distribution of subsidized fertilizers to coffee farmers in Trans Nzoia County.
Trans Nzoia CEC member for Agriculture Mary Nzomo, said the programme was aimed at improving the quality and quantities of coffee produced in the county and it is going a long way in reducing the burden of coffee production hence increasing income for the farmers.
“I urge all coffee farmers in the county to reach out and grab this opportunity by only paying 60 per cent of the cost of inputs while 40% is catered for by the government,” CEC Nzomo said.
The coffee inputs worth Sh800,000 was supplied to 41 coffee farmers from the KAMISSA coffee farmers’ cooperative in Kiminini sub-county. CEC Nzomo added that the County Department of Agriculture and Cooperative Development would continue to offer support to our coffee farmers through training and provision of subsidized seedlings.
“Some partners have already shown interest in setting up a coffee processing plant in the county but the coffee quantities produced in the county have been discouraging. Any support to the coffee farmers in the county will see them achieve the targeted produce,” said Mrs Nzomo.
Crops diversification programme
The county government under its crops diversification programme is offering coffee seedling subsidies to farmers and since 2014, this has seen an increase in coffee acreage in the county. Nzomo added that the Department of Agriculture has so far distributed over 10,000 subsidized coffee seedlings at Sh20 each to encourage more farmers to embrace coffee farming in the county. According to the Coffee Board of Kenya report, Trans Nzoia coffee farmers were able to receive 250,000,000kg from the 1,500 hectares of coffee farming in the county.
“I assure our farmers that once we achieve the desired qualities and quantities of coffee produced, we shall have our own coffee processing factory,” Nzomo said.
On his part, the new KPCU representative in Trans Nzoia Moses Ndwasi, and Bungoma counties, said they have brought KAMISSA farmers’ cooperative society subsidised fertilizer that the group members managed to pay 60%.
Ndwasi said the programme started three months after its launch and the new KPCU is in the process of registering farmers to benefit from the fertilizer subsidy government programme.
“I call upon all the farmers who have not registered to come out and be registered so that they cannot be left out of the programme. We will give out fertilizers like NPK 17:17:17 and CAN. We also have other agrochemicals like foliar feeds, pesticides, and herbicides that can be used in improving the quality of our coffee in the country,” he said.
Ndwasi added that the new KPCU targets more than 80,000 farmers through the subsided programme in the country and so far, in Trans Nzoia, they have been able to register more than 5000 farmers.
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