• The board has distributed three million bags of planting.
• 300,000 top dressing fertiliser for the 2024 long rains season to registered farmers.
Image: HANDOUT
Image: HANDOUT
The National Cereals and Produce Board has started compensating farmers who bought substandard fertilisers under the subsidy programme.
This follows a directive by President William Ruto that all farmers who bought Kel fertilisers be compensated.
On April 8, the President said the company involved in the fake fertiliser should compensate farmers. He assured farmers the government has enough fertiliser for them.
"Every farmer will get the right fertiliser. The company that was involved, should compensate farmers who bought fake fertiliser and they should be given new fertilisers free of charge," Ruto said.
Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi told the Senate Committee on Agriculture probing the fake fertiliser 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,” he said.
The CS told the committee about 3,000 bags of fertiliser distributed by Kel Chemicals were substandard.
“The agreed standard of the nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium percentage is what went short of the agreed standards. That does not mean the fertiliser was completely useless or fake,” Linturi told the senators.
The government had distributed 2.4 million bags of fertiliser as at April 4 through the NCPB. The board contracted 11 companies to distribute the subsidised fertiliser.
NCPB managing director Joseph Kimote urged farmers to lodge formal complaints by filling a claim declaration form that will be provided at the depot or selling centre where they bought the fertiliser.
“They are also required to present their original national ID cards and evidence of purchase including the exhibits where applicable (for those who have not used the fertiliser)," he said in a statement.
"All farmers who have utilised the fertilisers and NCPB has verified that they procured from their stores will be issued with an equivalent amount of the top dressing fertiliser.”
Kimote said farmers who bought but have not used the fertiliser will be required to return it to NCPB stores and be issued with equivalent amount of planting fertiliser.
“Farmers’ documentation must match with the existing records at NCPB’s silos or depots in the mezzanine system,” he said.
Meanwhile, the board has distributed three million bags of planting and 300,000 top dressing fertiliser for the 2024 long rains season to registered farmers.
Kimote said farmers are continuing to receive e-voucher messages for top dressing fertiliser.
“Farmers are encouraged to visit the nearest NCPB depot or selling centre to purchase quality fertilisers under the Government Subsidy Programme,” he said.
At least eight senior officials at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) have been suspended over the fertiliser fiasco.
The officials were interdicted over the issuance of certification and marks of quality to two companies, which have been linked to the substandard fertiliser.