The government has cut the price of a 50kg bag of subsidised fertiliser from Sh2,500 to Sh2,000 and halved the price of certified maize seed as it seeks to cushion farmers from drought-related losses.
Under the new intervention, the government will meet 50% of the cost of certified maize seed, reducing the price from Sh300 to Sh150 per kilogramme, according to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe.
This means farmers will pay Sh300 for a 2kg pack of maize seed, down from Sh600, while a 10kg pack will cost Sh1,500 instead of Sh3,000. A 25kg pack will retail at Sh3,750, down from Sh7,500.
The maize seed subsidy will target about 40 million kilogrammes of certified seed and is expected to cost the government an estimated Sh6 billion.
Farmers will access the subsidised fertiliser and maize seed through government-designated distribution channels.
The Ministry of Agriculture said the measures are intended to help farmers recover from drought and resume production by reducing the cost of agricultural inputs.
“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,” Kagwe said in a statement issued on Monday.
The government said the intervention is part of President William Ruto’s administration’s shift from subsidising consumption to subsidising production.
It said the aim is to lower production costs, encourage farmers to produce more and strengthen national food security.
The latest fertiliser price reduction means the cost of a 50kg bag has fallen by more than 73% from the Sh7,500 it retailed at in 2022.
The National Fertilizer Subsidy Programme initially reduced the price to Sh2,500 before the latest reduction to Sh2,000.
Since 2022, about 33.55 million 50kg bags of subsidised fertiliser have been distributed to approximately 1.98 million farmers, with government support estimated at Sh78.79 billion.
The ministry said the subsidies have coincided with an increase in maize production.
Maize production rose from 34.3 million 90kg bags in 2022 to 73 million bags in 2025, while maize imports fell by more than 66.5% over the same period.
Kagwe said these gains must be protected from the effects of drought.
“The Government will continue supporting farmers to recover from drought, lower their cost of production and return to their farms,” he said.
The ministry also said it would invest in irrigation, water harvesting and other climate-smart measures to strengthen Kenya’s resilience to changing weather patterns.