NAIROBI, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese-funded Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway (SGR) will transport more than 45,000 metric tons of imported fertilizer meant for smallholder tea farmers from the port of Mombasa to the hinterland.
Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), an umbrella body for 650,000 small-scale tea farmers, released a statement in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, Thursday, declaring that ferrying the commodity through the modern railway line will guarantee efficiency, speed, safety and savings.
Mithika Linturi, the cabinet secretary for agriculture and livestock development, flagged off the second consignment of fertilizer for tea farmers at the port of Mombasa for onward distribution via the SGR to Nairobi and later to tea-growing highlands in the country.
Kenya imported 45,232 metric tons of fertilizer from Russia that will be supplied to smallholder tea farmers to boost the productivity of the cash crop.
The ship carrying the second consignment of fertilizer procured directly from Russia docked at the Mombasa port Monday and will be transported by the SGR cargo train service.
Linturi said the fertilizer will be available to smallholder tea farmers at subsidized rates, in line with the government's commitment to boosting agricultural productivity and export revenues.
Enos Njeru, the chairman of KTDA Holdings, noted that Kenya has weathered myriad storms including geopolitical tensions, disruptions in the global supply chains and fluctuations in foreign exchange rates to import bulk fertilizer for tea farmers. Njeru said the tea agency will in the future package the imported fertilizer in smaller quantities besides procuring the commodity early in advance to ensure it reaches farmers without delays.
Kenya Railways Corporation and KTDA in January 2022 inked a deal to facilitate the transport of processed tea from the factories to Mombasa port via the SGR in a bid to reduce costly logistics bills including warehousing. ■
