Agriculture
Farmers who bought fake fertilizer will be compensated with top dressing to help address nutrient deficiencies in their farms.
The assurance was made by Senate Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries during a fact-finding tour at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) depot in Kipkaren _ Selia in Nandi County where the data of farmers who were affected by the scam was taken.
The committee led by its chairman Kamau Murango said supplying fake farm inputs to farmers was equal to economic sabotage or terrorism adding that all perpetrators should be brought to book to face full force of the law. Murango directed NCPB to move ahead and facilitate farmers by capturing the data and ascertaining information for swift compensation plan.
“Every farmer who bought fake fertilizer will get the correct one free of charge. Those who were involved with the illicit trade to sabotage food security in the Country will be arrested and prosecuted. The government is committed to safeguarding the agricultural sector and safeguarding farmers from fraudulent practices,” he said.
The chairman called upon NCPB across the region to fast track the distribution of subsidized fertilizer to enable farmer’s plant on time during this rainy season.
Already eight senior officials at the Kenya Bureau of Standard have been suspended over the fake fertilizer fiasco with various stakeholders calling upon the government to crack the whip to avoid repetition of the same in future.
Some 2,247 bags of suspected fake fertilizer had been sold at the depot with farmers asking the government to compensate them immediately. A foul smell of strange chemicals combined with animal manure and stones rendered the air when farmers opened parcels of fake fertilizer they had brought as evidence during the inquiry.
Wycliffe Kirwa from Cheptil, Mosop Sub County narrated to the committee how his planter broke down after using the fake fertilizer adding that he still has 90 bags in store.
“Since the fake fertilizer has combination of stones and manure, it destroys the planter. I have about 50 acres of land and l cannot use manpower. We are stressed, stranded and devasted. Joke with anything else but not efforts and sweat of farmers. We have suffered a big loss, and we demand for proper compensation,” he said.
Daisy Chepkosgei, a single mother of three who bought 12 bags said she was forced to use the fake fertilizer because she had no money to buy another fertilizer.
“I spent all my savings to buy a mixture of sand and salt in form of fertilizer. We don’t know if we will be able to harvest anything this season,” she said adding that she depends on the produce to educate her children. She called upon the government to ensure farm inputs not only the fertilizer being distributed meet the required standard.