Kenya’s Agri CS has been given a week to formulate plan to reduce cost of animal feed. President Uhuru Kenyatta gave the orders and said the Agriculture CS, jointly with the National Treasury, to issue a framework that will facilitate the reduction of the cost of animal and chicken feed.
He set in place measures to aid several agriculture subsectors in his Mashujaa Day goodies for farmers. Effective November 1, Uhuru said the new stimulus programme will target the key productive and service sectors. They include interventions in the tea subsector, which he said will safeguard the gains made in the industry.
“I direct the National Treasury to allocate Sh1 billion in support of fertilizer subsidy for small-scale tea farmers,” he said.
Safeguarding livelihoods of farmers
The President said in the sugar sub-sector, to safeguard the livelihoods of farmers within our nation’s sugar belt, Treasury has been urged to allocate an additional Sh1.5 billion that will be appropriated towards factories maintenance and payment of farmer’s arrears.
In the coffee sub-sector, in acknowledgment of the pace of the ongoing reforms, Uhuru directed Treasury to allocate Sh1 billion to the Agriculture ministry for the completion of the ongoing targeted interventions.
The fourth intervention is in the livestock sector. “Noting the effects of the ongoing drought situation, I direct the Treasury to allocate Sh1.5 billion in support of the communities affected by the ongoing drought as part of the National Livestock Offtake Programme.” This comes as milk production by farmers from Githunguri Dairy Co-operative Society has dropped by 2 million litres amid the rising cost of production. This year, the society’s 11,300 farmers delivered 81 million litres of milk compared to 83 million litres the previous year, a drop that has been attributed to animal disease and the high cost of inputs.
