Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has ordered the immediate destruction of 27,518 bags of expired fertiliser in various National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depots across the country.
This is part of the 34,100 bags that the government purchased in late December for planting season early this year.
Two and a half months later, it emerged that the consignment was not fit for farming. "The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) is to supervise the safe destruction of this consignment of Sulphate of Ammonia 21 percent fertilizer that was delivered to NCPB by FineTech Edge Ltd," he said. "Per standard operating procedures, the unsold fertiliser would not be released to the market and would be safely destroyed." This now raises the lid on the procurement of farm produce in the country, with farmers wondering if the government bought fake fertiliser.
The CS noted that although the samples from the fertiliser were submitted to the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for testing, the results indicated that the fertiliser complied with the requirement.
