Government says it is drafting the National Fertiliser Bill as one way of protecting the country’s farmers from dubious fertiliser suppliers.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Erica Maganga has told Yoneco FM that the drafting of the Bill follows the launch of the National Fertilizer Policy on 8 April 2021.

“What we have done at the moment is that we have launched the National Fertiliser Policy which was launched sometime in April it was approved by government and we are now drafting the National Fertiliser Bill.

The Bill will aim at protecting the consumers especially smallholder farmers who are times duped by the suppliers by giving the poor quality fertiliser at times is not fertiliser at all,” said Maganga.

She added that for a long time, the country’s smallholder farmers have been complaining in silence whenever they are sold poor quality fertiliser.

“So we want to protect the consumers who are our farmers so that when they are buying fertiliser they must buy real product that they are buying or paying for,” Maganga said.

Among other interventions, the Bill also aims at discussing various roles and responsibilities to be played by different stakeholders in the sector.