- An Sh7.48 billion loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) has been given to Kenya for the acquisition of fertiliser and seeds for 650,000 local farmers. The support from AFDB is intended to boost food production and control consumer price inflation and falls under the African Emergency Food Production Facility, the US $1.5 billion Pan African initiative to fight the food crisis triggered by the Ukraine war.
An Sh7.48 billion loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) has been given to Kenya for the acquisition of fertiliser and seeds for 650,000 local farmers. The support from AFDB is intended to boost food production and control consumer price inflation and falls under the African Emergency Food Production Facility, the US $1.5 billion Pan African initiative to fight the food crisis triggered by the Ukraine war.
The loan amounting to US $63 million will support the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives to urgently supply affordable fertiliser and seeds to farmers ahead of the October-December 2022 and into the 2022/23 crop production season, AfDB said in a statement. An e-voucher system will be used to ensure that subsidies for inputs are received by the farmers directly. The project will also extend trade finance guarantees to ensure the sufficient availability of fertiliser to farmers.
The AFDB loan is expected to support Kenya which has been hit hard by a series of challenges such as, COVID 19, the inflationary effects of the war in Ukraine, locust swarms and climate- and drought-related impacts. Fertiliser prices in Kenya shot up by 70% from last year to hit Sh6,000 per 50-kilogramme bag.
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