The Agricultural Finance Corporation has so far disbursed more than Sh1 billion as credit to farmers in the North Rift Valley.

Some of the farmers in the region have complained of delayed disbursements from the corporation but managing

director Lucas Meso said all farmers who met the qualifications for the loans have been assisted.

"We have hastened the process because of the planting season and most of the farmers who applied for credit have been assisted,"said Meso.

Disbursement of the money to farmers who applied for loans is still going on at various branches of the organization in the country.

AFC is loaning the money to farmers to boost food production countrywide.

Meso confirmed that AFC was closely working with farmers to support them in the agricultural activities they were undertaking.

"We are ready to support farmers as usual," said Meso. He said like in the previous years AFC will enter into agreements with farmers on how they will loaned the money.

Under a new plan, schools with huge tracks of land will also be eligible to get loans from AFC to produce their own food.

This would enable the schools to be food sufficient if they partner with the corporation to access loans at discounted interest rates of 10 per cent yearly.

Several schools have already shown interest in the new programme which will be useful in helping to reduce the costs they use on buying food stuffs for students.

Meso said that by spending less on costs of food, the schools would be able to also support poor students who are unable to pay their fees.

Farmers have hailed the support they receive from the AFC.

"Its good that farmers are now accessing support from the AFC but the government is letting them down by not failing to deal with the issue of fertilizer properly", said Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir Menjo.

AFC supports more than 35,000 farmers every year but Meso is implementing programmes that will increase the number of farmers benefiting from credit disbursed from the organization.

The target is to have more than 100,000 farmers under AFC support to help triple food production in all parts of the country.