President William Ruto on Wednesday announced that the government will Increase the budget for the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC) for seasonal crop lending from two billion shilling to ten billion shillings to facilitate affordable credit to farmers.
The credit will be provided at single-digit rates to reduce the cost of production for farmers and improve their productivity.
The president urged farmers across the country to access this affordable credit to help them support the country improve its agricultural production.
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“We have many farmers who every season borrow money to buy inputs at exorbitant interest rates. Previously, Sh2.5 million has been the maximum amount of money that has been availed to farmers through AFC which has not been adequate,” he said.
Comprehensive Mechanisation Plan
Ruto further outlined that the government has put in place a comprehensive mechanisation plan that will be supplying 10,000 tractors and machinery across the country. The government is also working with agricultural machinery makers to begin the setting up of assembly plants in Kenya before the end of the year.
“Some of our farmers are still using crude tools to plough their fields which limits their productivity. We have scope to improve agricultural mechanisation in Kenya from 45 per cent to 75 per cent in the next five years,” informed the president.
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The president noted that thanks to government programs such as the fertiliser subsidy initiative, the area under agricultural cultivation in Kenya had expanded by 200,000 acres in a year. “Our ultimate target is to double agricultural productivity by 2027,” he added.