Members of Parliament (MPs) are proposing that the Kenya Seed Company be relieved of the mandate of distributing subsidised seeds.
Instead, the National Assembly Committee on Agriculture and Livestock has suggested that the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) be assigned the role.
The position follows a meeting with the Kenya Seed Company Chairperson, Purity Ngirici, who appeared before the MPs alongside the MD, Sammy Chepsiror, on Monday evening.
Kenya Seed indicated that they were yet to implement the maize subsidy programme, despite a circular signed by the Agriculture Principal Secretary last week directing them to provide subsidised seeds to farmers before the end of the planting season.
“Let the NCPB be mandated to use whatever mechanism they use for fertilisers to also procure seeds for subsidy since they already have a mechanism for farmers to get fertiliser based on their farm size, and that is also how seed subsidy should be,” the Committee Chairperson John Mutunga said.
Ngirici described the directive as irregular, noting that it did not originate from the Cabinet Secretary but from the PS.
According to Ngirici, for the Company to operate sustainably, it would need to follow the established process for implementing a subsidy, including factoring in the cost of production.
“If we start discussing a directive that isn’t accompanied by a Cabinet memo, we may be entering the same situation we faced in previous seasons, where there was pressure to act on a directive from a PS who isn’t a policymaker. The policymaker is the CS, and if he doesn’t commit himself by issuing a Cabinet memo on the subsidy, then the matter may remain unresolved,” she said.
Soy MP David Kiplagat raised concerns about farmers who are expecting the subsidised seeds following the government circular issued last week by the PS, who is the accounting officer.
“We already have a working system in the NCPB that is working together with counties to provide the last mile. Our farmers are not complaining about fertiliser. Why don’t we use the same infrastructure to execute the seed subsidy? My proposal is that the money for both fertiliser and seeds subsidy should go to NCPB, which will then source from Kenya Seed and distribute to farmers,” Kiplagat said.
Konoin MP Brighton Yegon also supported the proposal, stating that fertiliser and seeds go hand in hand and that since NCPB has experience in fertiliser distribution, it could take on the role.
“Since the planting season is 60 per cent complete, the approved Sh2 billion could be used to settle the pending bill of Sh1.4 billion from last year, with the remaining going to NCPB, which has a framework. Kenya Seed has indicated concerns about the pending bill, and since the supplementary budget ends in three months, it may be challenging to fully utilise the funds,” Yegon said.
Kenya Seed had earlier indicated that the proposed subsidy price of Sh250 per kg is below their production cost, which stands at Sh257.40 cents per kilo of seed maize, and that implementation could result in a variance of 7.40 cents per Kg.
The Committee also met with KEPHIS, AFA, KEVEVAPI, KAGRC, the Kenya Sugar Board, and the Kenya Sugar Research and Training Institute, who each provided presentations outlining their requests for budget revisions in the FY 2025/26 Supplementary.
