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Yet another scandal was yesterday unfolding in the agriculture sector following disclosure by the standards regulator that it had impounded thousands of bags of substandard fertiliser.

The discovery will likely send shockwaves among those who are preparing for the planting season.

Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) revealed that it has so far netted 5,840 25-kg bags of the substandard fertiliser from various National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depots across the country.

Appearing before the departmental committee on Agriculture and Livestock chaired by Tigania West MP John Mutunga, KEBS officials confirmed that the substandard fertiliser is still in circulation across the country.

It is circulating in various parts of the country, they disclosed, and goes by the name GPC plus Organics Fertiliser and is distributed by a company known as SBL-innovate Manufacturers Limited.

KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari told the lawmakers that tests from 59 samples collected from various National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) had established that the fertiliser in question is substandard and is completely different from organic fertiliser that the company had initially been certified to distribute.

The fertiliser in question, Ngari said, has high levels of PH, is dolomite in nature as it is composed of calcium, magnesium and carbonate whose purpose is to only act as a soil conditioner as opposed to the organic fertiliser that is suited for Kenyan soil to add nutrients and sustain growth.

Said Ngari: “The product being distributed is not certified by KEBS. The product which KEBS initially certified is different from what has been seized from various NCPB depots in the country and condemned as substandard and counterfeit and thus not suitable for sale in the market.”

Substandard fertiliser

Ngari who disclosed that they have already written to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to allow them to charge the company behind the substandard fertiliser regretted that despite them only allowing organic fertiliser brand Bl -GPC original to be brought in to the country after fulfilling various condition, SBL innovate Manufacturers Limited engaged in misuse of the standardization mark as it went ahead and brought into the country a product that was not certified by KEBS.

She added that the company had displayed the KEBS mark of quality on a product that had not undergone the mandatory certification process as stipulated by Standards Act and governed by the applicable standard.

SBL-innovate Manufacturers Limited had been allowed to bring into the country fertiliser known as BL-GPC original but went ahead and brought in GPC plus Organics Fertiliser using the same standardisation mark yet it had not been certified by KEBS.

She said: “Through routine market surveillance activities and public complaints, KEBS recently identified a potential breach of the certification contract by SBL -Innovate Manufacturers Limited. This act undermines consumer trust and could potentially harm agricultural productivity.”

She added: “From our side we have already written to the DPP so that we prosecute those involved as per the standards act.”

Asked why it took long for KEBS to carry out the tests after the committee heard that the entity granted SBL -innovate Manufacturers Limited a standardisation Mark to bring into the country fertiliser on January 28 last year, Ngari explained that NCPB had denied them entry into their stores.

She explained that KEBS’ first attempt to collect the samples from NCPB stores was rejected and were only allowed to do so after writing several letters whose response was only received on January 31 this year.

She said: “This fertiliser was being distributed from NCPB outlets only, we went there on January 17, 2024 and were not allowed to pick the samples. NCPB told us to write a letter which we did on January 19 and got a response on January 31 and that is when we went in on February 5 to do the sampling.”