Reimagining Fertilizer Subsidies: Building Sustainable and Inclusive Models for Kenya’s Agricultural Future

Modern agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, are essential for boosting agricultural productivity and ensuring food security. However, fertilizer adoption rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya, remain low due to financial constraints, inadequate infrastructure, and inefficiencies in subsidy programs, such as challenges in targeting, distribution, and information dissemination. Kenya has implemented various subsidy initiatives, such as the National Accelerated Agricultural Input Access Program (NAAIAP) and the National Government Fertilizer Subsidy Program (NFSP), to address these challenges. While these programs have increased fertilizer access, they have also faced issues such as poor targeting, operational inefficiencies, crowding out of the private sector, and unsustainable implementation practices leading to decline in soil health. Agricultural financing and subsidy support in Kenya continue to face these challenges that also include lack of a clear policy framework to guide the implementation of subsidy programs. Disjointed approaches without clear coordination mechanism often led to overlaps and duplication of effort at both National and County level.

It is in this context that the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development initiated the development of a Policy Framework for Sustainable Financing and Subsidy Management in Agriculture to address existing challenges through the establishment of a framework for sustainable financing provision of guidelines for effective subsidy management to enhance agricultural productivity and food and nutrition security.

MoALD has also finalized the Kenya Fertilizer and Soil Health Strategic Implementation Action Plan, containing actionable fields on the topic of “repurposing fertilizer subsidies”. Beside the longer-term efforts currently been made by the Ministry, an immediate solution for a working model for fertilizer subsidies is urgently needed for the next rainy season. It is critical to develop a more effective and sustainable fertilizer and other input subsidy model for Kenya, informed by lessons from national and international experiences and taking in account the recommendations already formulated in the above-mentioned policy framework and action plan.

This workshop aims to co-create alternative fertilizer subsidy working models tailored to Kenya’s unique needs and harmonizing both policy directions aiming for soil health and affordable agricultural inputs. The workshop will review Kenya’s past and current subsidy programs to identify successes, challenges, and gaps. Drawing on case studies from Malawi, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, India, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, the workshop will explore best practices and lessons learned in implementing effective subsidy programs that drive soil health improvements and productivity increases. Participants will engage in collaborative discussions to design alternative working models that incorporates private sector involvement, targeted support mechanisms, complementary input subsidy, e-voucher systems, and soil health integration.

A key output of the workshop will be a plan for piloting the proposed subsidy working model(s). By testing its effectiveness through well-designed pilot programs and a related learning agenda, the working model can be refined before scaling up nationally. The workshop will also emphasize the importance of robust monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure accountability, transparency, and program efficiency.

The workshop will bring together stakeholders from the Ministry of Agriculture (the two technical working groups for the subsidy policy framework and for the fertilizer and soil health action plan), county governments, donor agencies, private sector players, research institutions, and farmer organizations. Discussions will review past and current subsidy models, explore global best practices, co-creating sustainable and inclusive working subsidy models, design implementation plans, and develop pilot scenarios to test and refine the proposed models before scaling to national level.

• Status Update from the Ministry – Soil Health Action Plan and Agricultural Input Subsidy Policy Framework
  • Presentation from TWG one: Soil health action plan.  Peter Odhiambo Owoko, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Kenya
  • Presentation from TWG two: Agricultural input subsidy policy framework. Laban Kiplagat, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Kenya
• International experience of subsidy programs
  • Hailemariam Ayalew, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
  • Ruth Hill, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
• Q&A

• Panel Discussion: Proposed stakeholder solutions to the challenges and gaps of the Fertilizer Subsidy program. Key solutions for targeting, distribution, and sustainability for the input subsidy program.
  • Simon Muchigiri, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Kenya
  • Nehemiah Odongo Amollo, National Agro-dealers Association 
  • Junnie Wangari, Organic Fertilizers and Inputs Manufacturers Association of Kenya (OFIMAK)
  • Lilian Wanjiru, Fertilizer Association of Kenya (FAK)
  • Bimal Kantaria, Representative of mineral fertilizer producers
  • Kiplimo Lagat, Agriculture CECM Caucus, and CECM Agriculture & Co-Operative Development, Nandi County
  • Peter Gitika, Kenya Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services
• Q&A Session: Engaging Participants in Discussion

Moderator: Hailemariam Ayalew, Research Fellow, IFPRI

• Recap of Day 1 – summary of key insights and recommendations from day 1
• Pilot Scenarios, Implementation Plan and Learning Agenda

Rapporteur: Sally Kimathi, Research Officer, IFPRI

• • Developing alternative bundling options and road map for implementation
    • Group presentations – Pilot Scenarios and Implementation Plan

• Summary of Workshop Outcomes
  • Hailemariam Ayalew, Research Fellow, IFPRI
• Closing Remarks:
  • Sophia Baumert, Project Manager, Sustainable Agricultural Systems and Policies, GIZ
  • Peter Odhiambo Owoko, Representative, State Department for Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture of Kenya
• Networking Session

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Individuals attending this event may be audio taped, videotaped, or photographed during a meeting, and by attending grant permission for their likenesses and the content of their comments, if any, to be broadcast, webcast, published, or otherwise reported or recorded. Questions? Please contact h.tiruneh@cgiar.org or f.kimaiyo@cgiar.org.

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This work is part of the CGIAR Policy Innovations Program.  We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. 

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Photo credit:  B. Das/CIMMYT