{"id":145935,"date":"2026-07-07T08:02:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T08:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/low-fertilizer-use-keeping-kenyan-farmers-poorkangata\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T08:02:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T08:02:50","slug":"low-fertilizer-use-keeping-kenyan-farmers-poorkangata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/low-fertilizer-use-keeping-kenyan-farmers-poorkangata\/","title":{"rendered":"Low fertilizer use keeping Kenyan farmers poor,Kang\u2019ata"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, July 7 \u2013 Low fertiliser use and limited adoption of certified seeds are among the biggest factors suppressing agricultural productivity in Kenya, Murang\u2019a Governor Irungu Kang\u2019ata has said, calling for increased financing to help farmers access modern farm inputs.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the sidelines of the FINAS 2026 Summit in Nairobi, Kang\u2019ata said Kenya\u2019s agriculture sector will struggle to achieve food security and improve farmer incomes unless investment shifts towards raising productivity through greater use of fertilisers, improved seeds and mechanisation.<\/p>\n<p>His remarks come as governments, financiers and agribusiness players seek solutions to bridge Africa\u2019s agricultural financing gap amid rising concerns over food insecurity and climate-related production shocks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfrica is the lowest user of fertiliser in the world. That explains why we are food-deficit as a country, so we need to pump in more resources to agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSecondly, the issue of certified seeds. People are still using traditional seeds, which means our yields continue to remain low.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kang\u2019ata said increasing productivity, rather than merely expanding acreage under cultivation, should become Kenya\u2019s primary agricultural policy objective.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that farmers need greater access to quality inputs through affordable financing, saying higher yields are critical to reducing poverty and enabling the country to meet growing industrial demand for agricultural raw materials.<\/p>\n<p>According to the governor, Murang\u2019a has invested in distributing certified seeds, soil conditioners, fertilisers and pesticides to coffee farmers while supporting dairy and mango producers through targeted subsidy programmes.<\/p>\n<p>The county allocates about Sh220 million annually to dairy farming and nearly Sh200 million to mango production, with additional funding supporting coffee and lime farming.<\/p>\n<p>Kang\u2019ata said Kenya must also accelerate agricultural mechanization, noting that many smallholder farmers still rely on basic hand tools that limit productivity.<\/p>\n<p>He further called for stronger linkages between farmers and processors to ensure production responds to market demand rather than subsistence needs.<\/p>\n<p>The governor acknowledged ongoing debate over synthetic fertilizers but maintained that farmers should have access to any inputs approved by regulators if they improve productivity.<\/p>\n<p>He said discussions at the FINAS Summit highlighted the need for increased public and private financing to support farmers, arguing that access to quality inputs should be treated as an investment capable of transforming rural incomes and strengthening Kenya\u2019s food security.<\/p>\n<p>Agriculture remains one of Kenya\u2019s largest economic sectors, contributing roughly a fifth of the country\u2019s gross domestic product directly while employing the majority of rural households.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, July 7 \u2013 Low fertiliser use and limited adoption of certified seeds are among the biggest factors suppressing agricultural productivity in Kenya, Murang\u2019a Governor Irungu Kang\u2019ata has said, calling for increased financing to help farmers access modern farm inputs. Speaking on the sidelines of the FINAS 2026 Summit in Nairobi, Kang\u2019ata said Kenya\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}