Farmers from Murang’a to get subsidies through e-card

Mango and dairy farmers from Murang’a county will now receive subsidy payments for their produce via electronic cards. The move will ease the payment procedure for the farmers which was previously done in cash making it a tedious process.

In a programme dubbed “inua mkulima”, the county government has been giving extra Sh3.50 and Sh7 to the mango and dairy farmers respectively, for the produce delivered to the suppliers who have signed a pact with the devolved unit.

The cards are linked to mobile phone banking services and the farmer will be able to get a notification once the money is deposited.

Quarterly basis

Speaking when issuing the cards to the farmers in Kiharu, Governor Irungu Kang’ata said the money will be deposited on a quarterly basis.

He said 21,000 farmers have been registered in the subsidy programme which was launched about one year ago. The governor said with the cards, the farmers will be able to buy farm items and other commodities at various outlets designated by the county.

“We have been paying the money in cash but this had a lot of challenges and thus opted to go the digital way,” added Kang’ata.

“We have identified 85 outlets where the farmers can redeem their money and get the commodities they want” said the governor.

Kang’ata said they have already carried out a verification exercise for all the beneficiaries and scrutinised their details which will be fed into the system.