Value chains & market institutions

The National Fertilizer Subsidy Programme sells fertiliser to registered farmers through electronic vouchers, which they redeem at NCPB depots, cooperatives and agro-dealers¹. The vouchers are managed through the Kenya Integrated Agriculture Management Information System (KIAMIS), which also handles farmer registration and e-extension, and over 6.8 million farmers had registered by June 2025²³. For the 2025 long rains the government procured 7.4 million bags at a price to farmers of KSh 2,500 per 50-kg bag, and in September 2026 the price was KSh 2,000¹⁴. The Ministry reported in October 2026 that more than 38 million bags had been subsidised since 2022⁵. No audited data on subsidy spending by season were found.

Imports of chemical fertilisers fell to 561,986 tonnes in 2022 and reached 919,982 tonnes in 2025, 10.2% more than in 2024⁶. The Fertilizers and Animal Foodstuffs Act (Cap. 345) regulates their import, manufacture and sale⁷.

Under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution county governments are responsible for crop and animal husbandry, plant and animal disease control and fisheries, while the national government sets agricultural policy¹⁰. National government spending on agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting was KSh 97.0 billion in 2025/26, about US$750 million at the FY2025/26 average of the IMF monthly averages of 129.28 and 2.3% of national government expenditure (own calculations), and county spending on agriculture was projected at KSh 31.3 billion⁶¹¹. The Agriculture Orientation Index, which compares agriculture's share of public spending with its share of GDP, was 0.130 in 2025¹².

Sales of maize to the National Cereals and Produce Board and millers were 178.0 thousand tonnes in 2025, 4.3% of estimated production (own calculation)¹². The Government Owned Enterprises Act 2025 repealed the NCPB Act from 5 December 2025 and lists NCPB among the enterprises to be reconstituted as public limited companies¹³. Kenya had 9,640 registered agricultural cooperative societies in 2025, including 910 dairy and 808 coffee societies, and 14,882 savings and credit societies, and cooperatives produced 36.8 of the 51.4 thousand tonnes of coffee in 2024/25¹². Societies are registered under the Co-operative Societies Act (Cap. 490)¹⁴. KTDA is owned by about 600,000 smallholder tea farmers through 54 tea companies with 69 factories¹⁵.

The KNBS food balance sheet shows a food self-sufficiency ratio of 99.7% in 2025, after 105.6% in 2024 and 87.5% in the drought year 2022, and an import dependency ratio of 18.3%¹².

The Warehouse Receipt System Act (Cap. 350, Act No. 8 of 2019) created the Warehouse Receipt System Council, which certifies warehouses and keeps a central registry of receipts, and the Act commenced on 2 July 2019¹⁶¹⁷. Depositors can pledge receipts to 18 participating banks, microfinance banks and Saccos, which usually lend up to a share of the value of the stored goods, for example 70–80%¹⁸. In September 2026 certified warehouses held 6,846 bags of 50 kg of maize, sunflower, soya beans, green grams and coffee (own sum)¹⁹.

In FY2024/25 the Council registered 40 warehouse receipts, certified 8 warehouse operators in Nakuru, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Kirinyaga and Meru counties and 3 collateral managers, and onboarded 15 financial institutions²⁰. Depositors placed 5,844 bags in certified warehouses and 7 receipts were financed, and the Council began onboarding coffee by linking the system with the Nairobi Coffee Exchange²⁰.