Video: Ruto spends Easter break tilling Eldoret farm
President William Ruto is spending the Easter break supervising planting of crops on his private farm in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu county.
In a video that has surfaced online, the Head of State is seen helping his workers plough the farm using a tractor.
President @WilliamsRuto ploughing. pic.twitter.com/Jm0aMYrVMi— Seth Olale (@SethOlale) April 9, 2023
Earlier, the Head of State told a congregation at African Inland Church (AIC) in Eldoret that increased production was the only way out of the food crisis in the country.
“This Easter season I decided to spend time here at home and also to supervise the planting on my farm.
“As a farmer, I came down here to look at what I can do. To make a contribution to food production in our country so that we can reduce the cost of living,” Ruto, who was accompanied by First Lady Rachel and their children, said.
He challenged local farmers to take advantage of the ongoing rains to plant their crops in good time.
“Lowering food prices boils down to what we do as farmers and the solution is to produce food locally,” he explained.
Ruto, however, indicated that the government had imported food to address the current shortage that has seen prices of the commodities hit the roof.
“I know we have a big debate across the country about the cost of living and how we need to reduce food prices.
“As a government, we have imported a lot of food and beginning this week, it will get to the market,” Ruto assured Kenyans.
Fertiliser subsidy
Ruto's Kenya Kwanza administration introduced fertiliser subsidy last year, in what the government said was a long-term solution to addressing food insecurity in the country.
While ruling out subsidies on consumption, Ruto affirmed that his administration would invest in producers.
"We are not going to be subsidizing consumption. That is why we are going slow on the matter of subsidizing consumption. We are going to work and support producers," Ruto said while addressing a Kenya Kwanza parliamentary group meeting in Naivasha in September last year.
"The Unga subsidy that was done, I was being briefed by the Ministry of Agriculture for one month, the taxpayer was asked to pay Ksh7 billion for the unga that cost Ksh100 which was nowhere in the first place. Only few people laid hold of it. If we had spent Sh7 billion shillings in fertilizer it would have been a different ball game."
