Kenya’s ability to feed itself continued to be tested last year with the challenges expected to spill over into 2019 as smooth flow of fertiliser in the market becomes critical in the February/March planting season.
Importers represented by Fertiliser Association of Kenya chairman Eustace Muriuki and Kenya Flower Council (KFC) chief executive Clement Tulezi said most individual and corporate farming enterprises will be forced to scale down operations as the input becomes scarcer by the day.
Mr Tulezi said the scenario had worsened risking jobs of about 300,000 workers at flower and horticultural farms whose mainstay is a ready flow of fertilisers.
“Flowers are grown under hydroponic conditions that often require mineral nutrients. Without fertiliser, there is no flower farming, no jobs, no exports and this means lost investments,” he said.