This archive report was first published on 16 July 2020.
Kenya's smallholder farmers are set to benefit from a new e-voucher system, which will enable them to access inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, and soil testing services. The initiative, announced by Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga, will begin in the short rains season this October.
According to PS Boga, the e-voucher system will facilitate farmers' access to subsidised soil testing services, seeds, fertilizers, post-harvest handling tools, and other inputs needed to increase production. The system will also help to cut out cartels, rent-seeking, and corruption in the agricultural sector.
The new scheme will provide a 40 per cent incentive to farmers, who will have to contribute the remaining 60 per cent of the cost of the inputs they purchase. Each e-voucher, accessed by farmers as an SMS, will be allocated a value of about Sh20,000 per acre and will only be redeemable at pre-qualified and registered agrovets around the country.
Only farmers with not more than five acres will be eligible for the government support. The programme targets to reach about 200,000 farmers in the first three years, who are expected to graduate into commercial farming.
The first cycle will focus on maize, potato, rice, and coffee farmers, with the first batch of farmers drawn from the maize-growing areas of Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, Nandi, and Bungoma, among other counties.
