The government has suspended the distribution of NPK fertiliser to farmers under the subsidy programme.
This comes after it was established that NPK 10:26:10, manufactured by Ken Chemicals Limited, may be substandard.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Kipronoh Ronoh, in a letter to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), ordered the State agency to stop the distribution of the fertiliser to farmers with immediate effect.
Additionally, NCPB Managing Director Joseph Kimote was instructed to carry out an investigation to ascertain the specifications of the fertiliser before its re-introduction under the subsidy programme.
“Following a visit by ministry staff led by the principal secretary to counties and national cereals and produce board stores, it was established that the above fertiliser ... may not be meeting the required standards as earlier indicated,” reads in part the letter by PS Ronoh to Mr Kimote.
“Your institution is requested to suspend the distribution of this fertiliser with immediate effect. Additionally, you are required to carry out investigations to ascertain the specifications of this fertiliser before [it is] re-introduced into the programme,” added the letter dated March 20, 2024.
He said that, should the investigation fail to clear the fertiliser, the supplier will be penalised.
The latest development comes even as Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi appeared to contradict officers in his ministry on the matter.
He disputed reports of fake fertiliser being sold to farmers through the NCPB even as police across the country continued to impound hundreds of bags of fertiliser filled with different substances.
Police in at least five counties have launched investigations after farmers complained of finding pebbles, unidentified granules, and animal droppings in their fertiliser.
Speaking while addressing participants at the Kakamega County International Investment Conference last week, President William Ruto confirmed that the government had arrested traders selling fake seeds and fertiliser.
“We must eliminate corruption and deal with those who want to sabotage our fertiliser programme firmly, effectively and conclusively,” the President said.
On Wednesday, Mr Linturi accused unnamed politicians and traders of launching a smear campaign against the subsidy programme after losing out on lucrative tenders to supply the commodity.
“There are those people who [had in the past] benefited from [government tenders to supply fertiliser] who could be the same people who are working with some politicians who do not mean well to create a narrative that the [subsidised] fertiliser is substandard. Fertiliser is big business and we have people who for a long time benefited from that trade. Some of these people did not manage to get the tenders last year,” Mr Linturi said.
As the CS spoke in Nairobi, farmers in Kirinyaga and Embu counties were protesting after allegedly buying subsidised fertiliser from NCPB stores but could not apply the input on their farms since it was a mixture of sand and goat droppings.
“When we examined it, we established that it was just sand and goat droppings,” said Mr David Karatai, a farmer from Mugambaciura village, Kirinyaga county.
“This a scandal that needs to be investigated and necessary action taken,” said Mr James Muriuki, another farmer.
In Embu, the County Security Intelligence Committee had to commence investigations over similar complaints, with County Commissioner Jack Obuor saying detectives had swung into action after farmers saying the fertiliser they had bought from NCPB stores resembled soil and rocks.
“The committee visited the Embu NCPB depot to ascertain the allegations,” said Mr Obuor. He confirmed that distribution of the controversial fertiliser in the county had been stopped by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Embu debacle mirrors others that have been reported in different parts of the country. Last week, police in Kakamega, Baringo, Nakuru, and other parts started investigations over similar cases.
“Some of the samples brought to the DCI [Directorate of Criminal Investigations] office in Koibatek has granules resembling salt lick while others have pebbles mixed with goat or sheep fur. The Sub-county Security Committee led by the DCC [deputy county commissioner] Koibatek have inspected the bags and have informed the manager [at] NCPB Koibatek to recall all 2,650 bags supplied to farmers,” a report from Baringo County stated.
And in Nakuru, a multi-agency security team seized 560 bags of suspected counterfeit fertiliser that was to be issued to farmers in Molo, Nakuru County.
On Wednesday, Mr Linturi was adamant that the reports were false.
“Everyone has made himself a scientist, an expert in fertiliser. You cannot appear to be knowledgeable than the experts we have in the ministry,” the CS told journalists in Nairobi.
The government has imported 12.5 million bags of fertiliser under its subsidy programme. The initiative was allocated over Sh10 billion this financial year.
Mr Linturi has maintained that the fertiliser sold under the government’s subsidy programme is of good quality and meets standards, a statement that contradicts his ministry’s warning last week when it ordered NCPB to suspend the supply of one of the brands.
“We are giving out the right quality fertiliser,” the CS reiterated while addressing members of Parliament, while going as far as to claim, without providing evidence, that “the propaganda [about fake fertiliser on sale at NCPB stores] is being spread by the opposition who don’t believe in our plans as a government.”
The development comes even after the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) last week accused a Kenyan-based regional fertiliser merchant of fraud after it emerged the firm supplied substandard fertiliser to NCPB.
Documents tabled by Kebs before the National Assembly’s Agriculture Committee detailed how Silica Booster Innovate Manufacturers Limited (SBL) supplied substandard fertiliser, branded GPC Original Plus Organic Fertiliser, for over a year undetected.
Kebs certified the firm to supply organic fertiliser but it supplied diatomite, which relies on a biologically generated form of silica to enhance soil conditions, to NCPB stores with farmers unknowingly purchasing the product bearing Kebs certification.
On Wednesday, SBL, which manufactures farm input including the controversial GPC Original Plus Organic Fertiliser, defended its products just hours after being flagged as fake by Kebs.
The company said its product is safe for use and was approved by Kebs on January 28, 2023.
“The product that we approved was not there. We approved totally different product from what they are selling,” Ms Ngari said.
At the same time, Mr Linturi said the government is working hard to crack down on unscrupulous traders selling uncertified seeds, pesticides and fertiliser to farmers.
“We have registered 6.52 million farmers. We are collecting their data so that, when planning, we know how many bags of fertiliser or kilos of maize seeds they will require,” the CS said.
