KENYA – The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) of Kenya has forged a new partnership with 51 Capital to enable distribution of affordable fertilizer in the country.
Under the two years partnership, NCPB will avail its nation-wide branches to facilitate distribution of the agricultural input, while 51 Capital will supply millions of fertilizers from its subsidiary GPC to the State parastatal, reports Citizen Kenya.
GPC Premium Products comprise of fertilisers, pesticides and earth powders and will all be supplied nationally through the Cereals Board and with prices that have been dramatically slashed to accommodate all farmers.
This comes on back of heightening prices of fertilizers due to the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
“Fertilizer has been going for Ksh.6000 and this has greatly affected the average farmer. We want to happily announce that our fertilisers, through the amazing partnership we’ve made with the Cereals Board, shall now be going for as little as Ksh. 1700 countrywide as they are locally-made, organic and excellent for the soil,” Joe Kariuki, the 51 Capital CEO, says.
Early March, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya warned that the price of fertilizer was bound to escalate to over Ksh.7,000 for a 50kg bag.
According to the CS, Kenya imports fertilizer from Russia and China and the Ukrainian invasion by Russia was bound to affect the supplies globally.
“We get most of our fertilizer from Russia and China and this war may see the price of fertilizer hit Ksh7,000 if there will be no subsidy in place,” Munya told the National Assembly.
At the time, fertilizer was retailing at a staggering Ksh.6,000 for a 50kg bag which has been attributed to high prices of natural gas in Europe.
This is the second partnership entered by NCPB since the start of the year with private sector players, to ease distribution of agricultural inputs .
Mid-February, Unga Farm Care, Kenya’s leading manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of quality animal nutrition and health products, inked a distribution deal with the government owned entity to widely avail its products to the Kenyan farmers.
Unga Farm Care’s portfolio includes livestock feeds, cattle minerals, feed premixes and concentrates among others.
The partnership follows an outcry from farmers over an increase of fake animal feeds in the market that have impacted the productivity of their livestock, and the new partnership is aimed to address this.
Under the contractual agreement, NCPB, will open up its warehouses for distribution of the manufacturer’s products sold under the Fugo, Afya Bora, Viminera brands, among others.
This partnership is aligned to the agriculture hub model that NCPB is establishing under the new reforms established last year.
The hub seeks to provide a one-stop-shop for farmers to obtain agricultural inputs, farm machinery, agricultural advisory services, and post-harvest management services, among other services.
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