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Just who is saying the truth about the actual quantity of the fake fertilizer in circulation across the country?

That was the question on most Kenyans’ lips after three top government officials gave sharply contradicting figures about the amount of the fake fertilizer distributed to farmers during the planting season.

Yesterday, Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi claimed that only 3,000 bags of fertilizer was sub-standard.

Linturi, who appeared before the departmental committee on Agriculture and Livestock chaired by Tigania West MP John Mutunga to shed light on the matter, claimed that the alleged fake fertilizer that was being distributed by Kel Chemicals had been recalled from the market adding that farmers who were in possession of the said product had been asked to surrender it.

He said: “Within our subsidy programme, the true figure that did not meet the standards is only 3,000 bags. We have already stopped the distribution of the said commodity.”

His sentiments came hours after Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua put the figure of the bad fertilizer at 50,000 bags.

Speaking when he met Kenyans living in Rwanda at a Kigali hotel on Saturday, the DP said that out of the four million bags of imported fertilizer by the government, “only” 50,000 bags were sub-standard.

While disclosing that detectives were on top of the matter and thus arrests and prosecution would be made soon, he said that 50,000 bags out of four million bags distributed by the government to farmers was such a “negligible” figure that could not affect the country’s food security situation.

Quality tests

He said: “Every society has rogue people. Only one supplier brought something that is not good. It is negligible. The amount involved is small and cannot affect our food security. However, we will be more careful and work on how to stop people from being mischievous,” he stated as he asked traders to be patriotic.

He added: “The fertilizer subsidy programme has been very successful. Before we came in, the fertilizer never used to reach people. We registered over five million farmers and created an electronic voucher system. As a result of the subsidised price of fertiliser, we produced over 60 million bags of maize last year, up from 40 million.”

Rigathi’s statement follows that of Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria statement, who a week ago added his voice to the matter saying that only 2,000 bags of the subsidised fertilizers failed quality tests and thus there is no cause for alarm.

Kuria, who was speaking in Busia county assured that the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has since withdrawn the substandard fertilizer from the market and the board’s stores.

He said: “Out of the six brands being distributed under the subsidy programme, five passed the quality test. Only one failed the test and their 2,000 bags were withdrawn from the market. It is high time farmers get to work, making use of the fertilizer subsidy programme, rather than get lost in the noise and regret later.”

Quality tests

And speaking in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu county yesterday when he inspected the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) stores, President William Ruto refrained from commenting on the actual amount of the fake fertiliser in circulation, only warning that those behind the scandal will face the law.
The President noted that he will keep pushing for the reduction of fertiliser prices so as to make farming more profitable.

“And we do not want to confine this to maize cultivation. We are broadening our range of crops so that our earnings can go up.”

Probed further by MPs to explain the exact number of bags that were fake and in circulation following the different positions taken by government officials when he appeared in Parliament yesterday, Linturi said that his ministry is the only one that is mandated to give a status of the number of bags of fertilizer that have been distributed to farmers.

He disclosed that as of now, the total payment made to suppliers as a subsidy component between the financial years 2021/22 to financial years 2023/24 is Sh8.97 billion.

As at March 14 this year, a total of 1.14 million bags of fertilizer has been distributed for the long rain season planting, with the total requirement for fertilizer for the whole year for various crops being 12.5 million bags.

Said Linturi: “My ministry is the only institution that is able to tell you how many bags of fertilizer that have been given to farmers, because we are the ones with the budget.” He added: “Every day I get records of how many bags have been distributed to farmers. We are the ones who have proper records of what exactly was sold.”

His response came after MPs Mutunga, Sabina Chege (Nominated), Brighton Yegon (Konoin), David Kiplagat (Soy) and Peter Salasya (Mumias East) took issue with how the CS was addressing the matter.
Said Yegon: “How did the faker fertilizer end up in the NCPB stores? Can the CS also tell us the exact number of bags that were sold and are fake because we have also seen CS Kuria comment on this matter?”

Chege said she is worried that farmers have been supplied with substandard fertilizer yet the CS was taking the matter casually.

She said: “CS how did we get here. You were once on this side like us MPs and you know what Kenyans on the ground want, yet your statement is that of a public servant. Please give us the correct position on the numbers out in the market and stop taking us round.”

Added Salasya: “Whatever is happening is like a scandal, where you package and repackage soil and then sell to Kenyans.”

Linturi made the remarks even as he called for the immediate arrest and prosecution over the owners of SBL Innovate Manufacturers that are claimed to have distributed fake fertilizers following revelations by Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) that the said company despite it being allowed to import fertilizer known as BL-GPC original, it went ahead and brought in GPC plus Organics Fertilizer using the same standardisation mark yet it had not been certified by KEBS.

Soil amendments

Linturi further complicated matters for the said company (SBL -Innovate manufacturers) after he revealed that they were actually supposed to bring into the country soil amendments and conditioner and not fertilizer.

This came after a 50 kg bag of the said soil conditioner was displayed before the committee to demonstrate that the contents in the bag was actually not fertilizer and had not met the required standards.

Linturi who said that the company was not under the subsidy programme said that NCPB started distributing the said commodities in March 2012 when it entered into a partnership with the said company which in return would get a commission out of it.

Following the move, he said that as at March 9 this year, NCPB had in its stores 3,276 bags of 50 Kgs that is awaiting disposal.

He said: “The fact is that NCPB engages in business partnerships with interested parties that provide farm inputs and other supplies on agency basis in food production and associated value chains in an effort to boost food security.

Through this arrangement, NCPB has partnered with organisations that supply products like fertilizers, lime, bio fertilizers and certified seeds. This is in line with NCPB’s mandate on food security.