{"id":17045,"date":"2024-03-23T11:02:56","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T11:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/shock-as-police-uncover-rocks-salt-licks-disguised-as-govt-fertilizer\/"},"modified":"2024-03-23T11:02:56","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T11:02:56","slug":"shock-as-police-uncover-rocks-salt-licks-disguised-as-govt-fertilizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/shock-as-police-uncover-rocks-salt-licks-disguised-as-govt-fertilizer\/","title":{"rendered":"Shock as police uncover rocks, salt licks disguised as govt fertilizer"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 23 \u2014 Detectives in Baringo\u2019s Koibatek Sub-county have commenced a<\/strong> probe into the sale of fake subsidized fertilizer from the region\u2019s National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Depot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The probe began after two farmers from Poror Village reported purchasing a total of 34 bags of counterfeit NPK fertilizer in March.<\/p>\n

The victims told police that the fertilizer, branded KELGREEN, which cost them Sh89,600 contained stones and cattle salt licks upon inspection<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the samples brought to the DCI office at Koibatek have granules resembling cattle licking salt and black stones and others have goat or sheep hair,\u201d a police report shared on Saturday indicated.<\/p>\n

The Sub County Security Committee, led by DCC Koibatek, inspected the bags brought and informed the Manager, NCPB Koibatek, to recall all 2,650 bags already supplied to farmers.<\/p>\n

The incident coincides with a recent expos\u00e9 by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) revealing a separate case of substandard fertilizer supplied to NCPB.<\/p>\n

Documents tabled before the National Assembly Agriculture Committee by KEBS on March 20, showed how SBL-Innovate Manufacturer Limited supplied substandard fertilizer dubbed \u2018BL-GPC\u2019 for over a year undetected.<\/p>\n

KEBS said the firm applied for certification on January 13 and secured approval on January 28, 2023.<\/p>\n

Rampant fraud <\/h2>\n

KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari told MPs that initially, the company had complied with all requirements which prompted the agency to issue them permits to supply organic fertilizer but later committed fraud by violating the standards.<\/p>\n

The standards agency certified SBL-Innovate Manufacturer to supply organic fertilizer but the firm supplied diatomite, which relies on a biologically generated form of Silica to enhance soil conditions, to NCPB stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring our surveillance, we sampled the product that was being sold in agrovets and finally got intelligence that the product was being supplied through NCPB stores. Test reports showed the product failed on organic matter,\u201d Ngari said.<\/p>\n

KEBS said it launched a probe following a tip-off from the public, seizing 5,840 bags in a surveillance raid.<\/p>\n

Following the intelligence, NCPB sampled the product in over 59 ware stores across the country which led to the suspension of the product permits amid fears that the product may still be in circulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t received any communication from NCPB regarding this particular matter even as they were distributing,\u201d Ngari stated.<\/p>\n

Soy MP David Kiplagat raised eyebrows on how the NCPB ware stores across the country were distributing fake fertilizers unknowingly<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the relationship between KEBS, NCPB and SBL-Innovate manufacturers? Did NCPB seek assurance from KEBS that the product was certified before distributing? he posed.<\/p>\n

KEBS asserted that it had initiated legal proceedings against SBL Innovate Manufacturers Limited even as it remained unclear on the product quantity in the market.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 23 \u2014 Detectives in Baringo\u2019s Koibatek Sub-county have commenced a probe into the sale of fake subsidized fertilizer from the region\u2019s National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Depot. The probe began after two farmers from Poror Village reported purchasing a total of 34 bags of counterfeit NPK fertilizer in March. The victims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}