Kapseret MP, Oscar Sudi has warned National Cereal and Produce Board officials against alleged soliciting of bribes from farmers for fertilisers.
Speaking on Sunday during a church service at AIC Church Annex in Eldoret, the MP cautioned the officials on asking for more money.
"I want to give the officials a warning who are soliciting bribes from farmers in exchange for fertilisers I've heard that you're asking for Sh500 extra for a bag of fertiliser," Sudi said.
He added that this has been a matter of concern that has affected the farmers despite the government's efforts to procure the fertilisers affordably.
"Rais hawezi fanya kazi ngumu ya kututafutia fertilisers bei rahisi alafu kuna wale wako Cereals Board, mtu anaandikisha fertilisers anataka lakini usipotoa kitu wanakurudisha nyuma kwa line," Sudi said.
He said that each farmer should receive the purchased amount of fertilisers equally.
"Each farmer is equal and should get the number of fertilisers ordered despite the size of lands whether it ranges from 5 acres to 1000 acres,"
"This trend has been observed especially in my constituency and every leader should be wary in their respective constituencies to combat this matter."
Sudi noted that he was also aware of the cartels within the constituency reportedly transporting the fertilisers to neighbouring countries.
"I also know that there are cartels taking fertilisers to Uganda and we shall work to weed them out," Sudi said.
This comes after Agriculture PS, Paul Ronoh reported that with collaborative efforts by the multi-agency committees on the ground the government is working to weed out all the cartels involved in fertiliser theft.
Failure by farmers to give the right information during the registration process, he said, provided a loophole for the cartels working in cahoots with government officials to steal.
“The hitch that we had was on people giving wrong information, we have 13, 000 officers who went to the ground to verify and we have since rectified,” Rono said.
The PS also outlined measures being implemented to ensure all registered farmers access subsidised farm inputs saying only farmers with e-vouchers will access.
While launching the distribution process in Taita Taveta last week, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi announced that the government has already ordered the importation of another 12.5 million bags.
“We have already started the process of importing 12.5 million bags of fertiliser to ensure our farmers prepare for the coming planting season,” said Linturi.
He assured farmers especially maize farmers from the North Rift region of enough supply of subsidised fertiliser before the long rains.
