NAIROBI: About 25,000 farmers stand to lose out on cheaper fertiliser in the next financial year after the budget committee rejected a Sh1.5 billion subsidy programme.
According to budget estimates tabled in Parliament, the Agriculture ministry had proposed to loan farmers about 200 metric tonnes in the subsidy. The Agriculture committee had proposed to expand the programme to cater for additional crops such as sugar, tea and coffee by recommending an additional Sh1.5 billion.
This was going to be the first time under the Jubilee administration that sugarcane, tea and coffee farmers would have received the subsidy. Another glaring exclusion in this year’s budget is that the National Cereal and Produce Board has not been allocated any funds to purchase grains and food crops in the printed estimates.
But despite a request by the Agriculture committee to have an additional Sh3.5 billion allocated to the institution, the budget committee remained silent on the matter. The State Department of Agriculture will receive the lion’s share of the money after the budget committee approved a Sh39.7 billion budget for crop development, agribusiness management and irrigation infrastructure.
Another Sh7.1 billion will go to the Livestock department while the Department of Fisheries will receive Sh4.5 billion. The Livestock department targets to produce 6,500 metric tonnes of meat for both local and export market. Towards this end, the Agriculture committee has also recommended a Sh400 million fund for a disease-free zoning programme.
To free up funds, the Agriculture committee recommended reductions of Sh10 million from the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority ( Sasra), Sh22 million from the Rangeland Ecosystems Development Services and another Sh30 million from the Development Planning Service.
These reductions of Sh62 million, the committee said, should be reallocated to support co-operative development, livestock markets and to reduce milk hawking. This is set to complicate plans to revive the agriculture sector whose sluggish growth last year impacted Kenya’s economic growth.
Agriculture contributes a quarter of Kenya’s GDP. The rejection is also set to cement the belief that Kenya’s priorities are out of touch with the common man coming at a time when criticism is already mounting on a mismatch between Government policies and spending plans.
For instance, the underlying theme of this year’s budget is agricultural transformation and food security. But a scrutiny of the budget shows that the Government has focused on commercial farmers and not small-scale farmers who account for more than 80 per cent of farmers in Kenya.
This will work against the Government’s own efforts at maintaining the rate of inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages at a sustainable level. The rejection will also slow down the Government’s plans to improve food security.
