Government cuts fertilizer, maize seed prices to cushion farmers

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The Government has announced a further subsidy on fertilizer and certified maize seed to help farmers recover from drought losses and return to production.

Under the new intervention, a 50kg bag of subsidized fertilizer will retail at Sh2,000, down from Sh2,500, while the Government will meet 50 per cent of the cost of certified maize seed, cutting the farmer’s price from Sh300 to Sh150 per kg.

The move means a 2kg pack of maize seed will now cost Sh300 instead of Sh600, while 10kg will retail at Sh1,500, down from Sh3,000.

The maize seed subsidy targets approximately 40 million kilograms, representing an estimated Sh6 billion in Government support.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe said the measures are aimed at lowering farmers’ cost of production, protecting gains made in agricultural output and strengthening national food security amid drought and changing weather patterns.

Kagwe in a statement to newsrooms indicated that since 2022, about 33.55 million 50kg bags of subsidized fertilizer have been distributed to approximately 1.98 million farmers, with Government support amounting to about Sh78.79 billion.

“Over the same period, Kenya has also recorded gains in agriculture production. Maize production increased from 34.3 million 90-kilogram bags in 2022 to 73 million bags in 2025, while maize imports declined by more than 66.5 percent over the same period. These gains cannot be allowed to be reversed by drought,” said Kagwe.

“At the heart of this intervention is a simple principle: a farmer who has lost a crop to drought must not also lose the ability to plant the next crop because fertilizer and seed are beyond reach,” explained the CS.

Kagwe said that these measures are part of President William Ruto’s administration shift from subsidizing consumption to subsidizing production by lowering the cost of inputs, supporting farmers to produce more and strengthening national food security.

The CS said that the Government will also continue investing in irrigation, water harvesting and other climate-smart interventions to build farmers’ resilience and ensure that drought does not deny them the ability to plant the next crop.

By Joseph Ng’ang’a

Reporting originally appeared via Kenya News Agency. Read the full source for additional context.