The Kenyan government has introduced a fresh input subsidy that will see a 50 kg bag of subsidised fertiliser sold at KSh2,000, down from the current KSh2,500, while the state will meet half of the cost of certified maize seed, lowering the farmer’s price from KSh300 to KSh150 per kilogram.
Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Mutahi Kagwe explained that the measure will make a 2 kg pack of maize seed cost KSh300 instead of KSh600, a 10 kg pack KSh1,500 rather than KSh3,000, and a 25 kg pack KSh3,750 compared with KSh7,500 previously, targeting roughly 40 million kilograms of seed and representing an estimated KSh6 billion in government support.
The subsidy builds on the National Fertiliser Subsidy Programme, which since 2022 has distributed about 33.55 million bags of fertiliser to nearly 2 million farmers, with total government outlays of around KSh78.79 billion, and has coincided with an increase in maize output from 34.3 million 90‑kg bags in 2022 to 73 million bags in 2025.
Kagwe stressed that the intervention is part of President William Ruto’s shift from subsidising consumption to supporting production, seeking to keep farmers from being priced out of the next planting season after drought‑induced crop losses and to bolster national food security.
In addition to the input subsidies, the government said it will continue investing in irrigation, water‑harvesting and other climate‑smart measures to enhance resilience against erratic weather patterns.
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Category: News
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