By Peter Ochieng
Farmers across the country who bought substandard, which is being refered to as fake fertiliser might incur additional expenses.
Recently, President William Ruto said farmers who bought the fake fertiliser should be compensated in order to ensure the right inputs are used during the ongoing planting season, for maximum food production.
However, while appearing before the Senate Committee on Agriculture on Thursday, Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi remained non-committal on the compensation framework of the affected farmers.
The former Meru Senator said that farmers will be compensated with top-dressing fertiliser, at an additional fee.
“We want farmers who took the substandard fertiliser to take back the fertiliser they took then we will rework the money we haven’t paid to KEL Chemicals,” said the CS.
“If we can recover the expense, the money, we owe the company we will give them for free. If it doesn’t meet, then we will work a formula to see whether they will pick the fertiliser at a lower cost.”
KEL refers to Ken Chemicals Limited.
Recently, the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) banned NPK 10:26:10 fertilisers manufactured by Ken Chemicals Limited, KEL Kelphos Plus and Kelphos Gold for not meeting Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) high standards.
Senators did not take the CSs sentiments lightly, demanding that farmers be compensated with top dressing fertilisers at no additional cost.
Under the fertiliser subsidy program, a 50 kilogram bag goes for Sh2,500.
“The President was very clear that farmers should be compensated. Compensation cannot come at an extra cost. Who will benefit from this extra cost they are paying yet they were given substandard fertiliser,” wondered James Kamau Murango, the committee’s chairman who is also the Kirinyaga Senator.
“We are not going to pay the remaining monies for KEL Chemicals until investigations are concluded. There’s no cause for alarm until the investigations are done,” the CS said in response.
NCPB Managing Director Joseph Kimote told senators that they sold 64,374 bags of fertiliser on behalf the company, with Sh170 Million funds remitted to the firm within days.
Reports indicate that KEL dispatched 69,070 bags to the NCPB stores.