With three months left until Kenyans head to the polls, Deputy President Dr William Ruto remains the man to beat with numerous surveys from approved research companies putting him at the apex.
The DP whose campaign message is around a reconstruction of the depleted economy is well aware that agriculture is the backbone of the country’s economy.
So he plans to work with experts and fix the agriculture sector which is grappling with serious challenges that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime has failed to address.
Kenyan farmers are currently facing an armyworm menace at a time when the country is just emerging from a prolonged drought.
Farmers in Rift Valley which is the country’s breadbasket and areas in Western Kenya are facing numerous hurdles including the high cost of inputs which is posing a serious threat to the country’s food security.
The current administration which is under the stewardship of the handshake brothers has failed to intervene by either providing subsidized seeds or pesticides or taking up the responsibility to fight the armyworm.
As most will remember, Kenya witnessed massive reforms in the sector when Ruto served as Agriculture Minister under the late former President Mwai Kibaki’s government and can only expect more when he becomes the country’s CEO.
Ruto is promising to rid the agriculture sector of brokers who are depriving farmers of what they deserve to earn.
“We will set aside money for the agriculture sector so that farmers will get the right fertiliSer and seeds. I have been a minister for Agriculture and I know how to go about it. We will rid the sector of brokers and cartels,” he said.
“When farmers produce enough, they will get good market prices for their produce. And when we get rid of the brokers and cartels, the farmer will maximise market prices at fair rates, hence reducing the cost of living.”
His bottom-up economic concept also has good policies to improve Agriculture as it recognizes the incorporation of farmer groups in its frameworks to spur the economy.
And while addressing a rally in Kitale on Sunday, DP Ruto promised to lower fertilizer prices once he ascends to power, under major plans he has to revitalize the agricultural sector.
This comes after Agriculture Secretary Peter Munya promised to increase the price of fertilizer to over Ksh.7,000 for a 50kg bag due to the ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine.
But the DP emphasized that his Kenya Kwanza government will support farmers by lowering the prices of farm inputs like fertilizer, whose price has over increased in recent months.
He was categorical that the price of fertilizer will be slashed to what it was before the recent hike.
“Bei ya mbolea tutaiteremsha kutoka hii Ksh.6,000 inauzwa sasa hadi ile tulikuwa tunanunua ya 2,500. That will be the price of fertilizer going forward beginning this year,” Ruto said.
