Rift MPs want action taken against traders selling fake fertiliser
Bags of subsidised fertiliser arranged at the National Cereals and Produce Board depot in Elburgon, Nakuru County on March 30, 2024.
A group of Rift Valley MPs has called for action against unscrupulous businessmen that supplied suspected fake fertiliser to farmers in the country.
Richard Yegon (Bomet East), Johana Ng’eno (Emurrua Dikirr), Richard Kilel (Bomet Central), and Joseph Cherorot (Kipkelion East) said the supply of fake farm inputs will potentially reduce the food and cash crop yield at harvest.
This comes on the heels of a crackdown by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) on suppliers of fake and uncertified seedlings, with maize and beans most affected.
The government has so far imported 12.5 million bags of fertiliser distributed under the subsidy programme, with Sh10 billion allocated for imports in the current financial year, according to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi.
As part of the programme, the government has registered 6.52 million farmers across the country in an ongoing exercise aimed at mapping the various agricultural activities to help plan for fertiliser imports.
United Democratic Alliance lawmakers have separately termed the supply of fake fertiliser economic sabotage as it will lead to poor crop yields at a time when the government is trying to boost food production.
“Let the government rid the market of unscrupulous businessmen who have the audacity to mess up with a programme initiated by President William Ruto aimed at raising local agricultural production and a cut on imports,” Mr Yegon said.
He added that an audit should be conducted to establish how much counterfeit fertiliser had been distributed to unsuspecting farmers and look for ways of compensating them for the losses incurred, knowing full well that the majority had not insured their crops.
Mr Ng’eno said the hiccups facing the fertiliser subsidy programme, which is a major undertaking by the Kenya Kwanza administration to support farmers spur food production and create employment, should be dealt with finality.
“Rift Valley is the agricultural food basket of the country and has unfortunately been the most affected by the suspected fake fertilisers, sowing panic among farmers,” Mr Ng’eno said.
Mr Cherorot urged government agencies to fast-track the process of subjecting the impounded fertiliser to laboratory tests to ascertain its quality as a farm input and determine its fate in the market.
“That farmers have paid for and were supplied with fake fertilisers at a time the government is seeking to boost agricultural production is unsettling and action should be taken against all those involved,” Mr Kilel said.
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi who chairs the National Development Implementation Committee (NDIC) has directed the National Cereals and Produce Board to halt distribution of the affected fertiliser in its stores countrywide.
The NPK fertiliser (NPK 10:26:10) manufactured by Ken Chemicals has been isolated among those in circulation as fake and samples extracted for laboratory tests following an outcry by farmers in most of the agriculturally endowed counties.
The NDIC report further stated that after completion of the investigations, those found culpable will be charged with various offences.
Principal Secretaries were also directed to ensure procurement laws are complied with and due diligence is done to avoid a recurrence of the matter that has painted the government in a bad light.
Mr Linturi (Cabinet Secretary) however recently appeared to read from a different script as he laid blame on unnamed politicians in the country for allegedly spreading falsehood on the fake fertiliser supply claim.
This is despite a multi-agency security team seizing 560 bags of suspected counterfeit fertiliser in Molo of Nakuru County, which was set for distribution to unsuspecting farmers.
“We are giving out the right quality of fertiliser… the propaganda about a sale at NCPB stores is being spread by the opposition who do not believe in our plan as a government,” Mr Linturi said.
Dr Paul Kipronoh Rono, the Principal Secretary for Agriculture in charge of Crops Development has said the government will conduct periodic and impromptu tests on the fertiliser to ensure the right quality of farm inputs is supplied to the farmers.
“The outcome of the laboratory tests will inform the Ministry of Agriculture and other key government departments on the next course of action as regards to the fertiliser that is suspected to be fake or substandard,” Dr Rono said in Londiani, Kipkelion constituency, Kericho County.
