Tuesday, April 9, 2024 – In what appears to be a clear admission of incompetence, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi shocked Members of Parliament yesterday after he admitted to having no clue of how to deal with the fake fertilizer menace.
While appearing before the National Assembly's Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, Linturi acknowledged that the fertilizer presented before the lawmakers was fake, but said that it was never supplied under the government's subsidy program.
Besides, he noted the government has not put in place mechanisms to deal with the effects of fake fertilizer.
"There is no mechanism in place to deal with the effects of the alleged fake fertilizer.
"This country has for a long time used DAP fertilizer, which has the ability to acidify soil.
"Within government and in realization of this, we have developed the National Soil and Cultural Management policy to address the issues of restoration and how to manage our soils properly.
"The current (subsidy) program that we are running does not have DAP as part of the fertilizer we are distributing," Linturi said.
"We give fertilizer that has the ability to heal our soils that have for a long time been damaged by DAP.
"The whole idea is to ensure that we gradually fertilize our soils and reduce the acid in our soils."
According to Linturi, the government is issuing semi-organic fertilizer, which is 50 percent chemical and 50 percent organic.
This comes amid reports of fake fertilizer in the market, with President William Ruto promising action against those behind the distribution to farmers.
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