The Ministry of Agriculture has launched an online portal to
guide farmers on the best crop and region-specific inputs to buy in a
drive to improve food productivity.
The Vifaa Kenya
dashboard, activated last Tuesday, publishes information on fertiliser
retail prices, recommended fertiliser usage per hectare as well as
real-time information on when to apply specific products on targeted
plantations to ensure higher yields.
“Timely and
accurate data are critical to support closing the gap between farmer
demand and fertiliser supply during the planting season. Vifaa
visualises key information on fertiliser price, use, product
availability and policy at the national and county level,” said the
ministry.
Tea, horticulture, flower and maize farmers
are major fertiliser users which leads to multibillion-shilling imports
of the product annually.
Vifaa draws data from
government sources, private sector players as well as from
Africafertiliser.org that is tasked with updating the data on a regular
basis.
Other players have also mooted direct farmer communication
channels to boost fertiliser intake based on rainfall availability, soil
types and crops grown.
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