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{
    "id": 59287,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/59287/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 330,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mbiuki",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Agriculture",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 79,
        "legal_name": "Japhet M. Kareke Mbiuki",
        "slug": "japhet-kareke-mbiuki"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government decontrolled the fertilizer prices at the beginning of 1990 and liberalized the fertilizer sector including the importation to enhance competition. Nevertheless, the production costs have remained high and beyond the reach of many small-holder cereal growers. The high cost of agricultural production in Kenya is attributed to high cost with the fertilizer accounting for more than 28 per cent of the entire production cost. This is despite the zero-rating on the fertilizer imports. The benefits of the waiver are not passed on to the farmers. Although fertilizer use in Kenya has grown significantly over the last two decades, the average use is still less than 31 kilogrammes per hectare compared to the developed nations which use over 100 kilogrammes per hectare. The low use of fertilizer can be attributed to high prices. With such low fertilizer use, the nutrient balance in most production systems is in the negative resulting in depression of soil nutrients which is a fundamental cause for the declining food and cash crop production. While the rate of application has been low, the overall fertilizer demand has grown from about 150,000 metric tonnes in 1996 to the current annual demand of 503,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer products. This demand is projected to grow to more than 600,000 metric tonnes in medium-term and more than 1,000,000 metric tonnes in the long run."
}