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CS Kagwe orders destruction of 25,518 bags of expired fertiliser
The government has ordered the immediate destruction of 27,518 bags of expired fertiliser held in various National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) stores across the country, raising fears that farmers may have bought and stocked the bad farm input ahead of the long rain planting season.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the consignment of Sulphate of Ammonia (21 percent) fertiliser, delivered to NCPB by Fine Tech Edge Ltd between December 27, 2024 and January 6, 2025, expired on February 28, 2025.
According to a letter signed by Mr Kagwe, the NCPB management issued a sale stoppage order for the same consignment on February 27, 2025.
The CS said the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) seized the fertiliser on March 4, 2025 and has stopped any movement of the same until safe destruction.
However, the minister did not address the fate of the farm input that farmers had already bought and stocked ahead of the planting season.
In his letter, Mr Kagwe said the government and the Kenyan public would not incur any loss or costs if the destruction of the consignment was worth Sh68.795 million.
He said prior to contract execution, samples of the fertiliser were drawn by KEBS for testing and the results indicated that the fertiliser complied with the requirement for Sulphate of Ammonia (21 percent N) and NPK fertilisers as per Kenyan standards.
“The consignment delivered to NCPB after a greenlight from KEBS was a total of 34,100 bags (50kg),” Mr Kagwe said in a press statement.
“However, upon supply, NCPB noted the short shelf-life, which was to lapse on February 28, 2025, as indicated in the packaging material.”
A 50 kg bag of NPK fertiliser currently retails at Sh2,500 at the NCPB stores after the government subsidised the cost.
This means that the 34,100 bags of fertiliser stored at the NCPB stores for sale to farmers would amount to Sh85.25 million.
He said the supplier was notified of the CS’s order to KEBS to supervise the safe destruction of the consignment and requested to deliver fertiliser with a longer shelf life.
“Per standard operating procedures, the unsold fertiliser would not be released to the market and would be safely destroyed,” he said.
“The NCPB management issued a sale stoppage order of the same consignment on February 27, 2025.”
Mr Kagwe said the KEBS seized the fertiliser on March 4, 2025, and has stopped any movement of
the same until safe destruction.
“As the supply of the fertiliser is on a consignment basis, and the ownership of the same vests with the supplier until when sold, this means that FineTech Edge Ltd will bear the costs and loss,” Mr Kagwe said in the statement.
“The government is committed to ensuring that Kenyan farmers access the highest quality of farm inputs, that public health and environmental standards are upheld, and at no time will these be compromised.”
He also urged players in the agricultural and livestock sectors to take up insurance to mitigate such losses.
The revelations follow increased cases of fake fertile distribution across the country.
Last month, the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) impounded 19,105 gunny bags of fertiliser and arrested a trader at a go-down in Kariokor, Starehe Sub-county in Nairobi.
The operation by ACA followed a series of raids in Kisii, Kitale and Kakamega counties in response to a presidential directive to dismantle fake fertiliser cartels through raids and arrests.
In May last year, former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi survived an impeachment motion in Parliament in the scandal surrounding the sale of fake fertiliser to farmers under the national government-sponsored subsidy programme.
Seven of the 11-member National Assembly’s Agriculture committee voted to save Mr Linturi from impeachment.
Mr Linturi was later sacked by President William Ruto following the nationwide Gen-Z protests in June 2024.
The special committee that was chaired by Marsabit Women Representative Naomi Waqo was formed to investigate the grounds for impeachment in a motion tabled by Bumula MP Wanami Wamboka.
Cases of fake fertilisers are usually reported ahead of the long-rains planting season with unscrupulous traders rushing to cash in on gullible farmers seeking the manure to grow their crops.
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