Kenya seeks to shield farmers from adverse weather conditions

The Kenyan government has introduced a crop insurance scheme to cushion farmers from adverse weather conditions, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Wednesday.

Kenyatta said the scheme was being tested in Bungoma, Nakuru and Embu counties.

"Already a thousand farmers in these counties have benefited from the premium subsidy at a cost of three million U.S. dollars," Kenyatta said when he opened the Nairobi International Trade Fair.

The government has also introduced a livestock insurance, which is being piloted in Turkana, Wajir, Marsabit, Isiolo and Tana River at a cost of 1.52 million dollars, the president added.

"The results of the two pilot schemes are encouraging. Ultimately we intend to roll out these schemes to every county in the country," he said.

Experts say drought represents the single greatest cause of livestock mortality in parts of Kenya.

Through the Kenya Livestock Insurance Program, the government will purchase drought insurance from private insurance companies on behalf of vulnerable pastoralists.

The government has also taken a raft of other measures to ensure food security including the lowering of the cost of farm fertilizer, according to the president.

He said his government had distributed more than 912,000 metric tonnes of subsidized fertilizer to 1.5 million farmers and reduced the average cost of fertilizer by half since 2013.

He said the government had also commissioned two fertilizer plants in Eldoret and Nakuru respectively that together have a capacity of 500,000 tonnes.

The cost of fertilizers will further go down once the two plants are fully operational, he said. Endit