Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe said Thursday, March 13, he has ordered for the destruction of 27,518 bags of an expired consignment of fertilizer held in various National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) stores across the country.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) is to supervise the safe destruction of this consignment of Sulphate of Ammonia (21 per cent) fertilizer that was delivered to NCPB by Fine Tech Edge Ltd between December 27, 2024 and January 6, 2025.
Prior to contract execution, samples of the fertilizer were drawn by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for testing and the results indicated that the fertilizer complied with the requirement for Sulphate of Ammonia (21 per cent N) and NPK fertilizers as per Kenyan standards.
The consignment delivered to NCPB after a greenlight from KEBS was a total of 34,100 bags (50kg). However, upon supply, NCPB noted the short shelf-life, which was to lapse on February 28th, 2025, as indicated in the packaging material. The supplier was notified of the same and requested to deliver fertilizer with a longer shelf life, as the entire consignment was unlikely to be sold by the end of February.
Per standard operating procedures, the unsold fertilizer would not be released to the market and would be safely destroyed. The NCPB management issued a sale stoppage order of the same consignment on 27th February 2028. Further, KEBS seized the fertilizer on 4th March 2025 and has stopped any movement of the same until safe destruction.
As the supply of the fertilizer is on a consignment basis, and the ownership of vests with the supplier until when sold, this means that FineTech Edge Ltd will bear the costs, and loss. CS Kagwe reiterates that the government is committed to ensuring that Kenyan farmers access the highest quality of farm inputs, that public health and environmental standards are upheld, and at no time will these be compromised.
He also urged players in the agricultural and livestock sectors take-up insurance to mitigate such losses. The government and Kenyan public will not incur any loss or costs.
