- Gachagua said that out of the many suppliers who were given contracts, only one brought in substandard fertiliser.
- The DP said that when the government reduced the cost of fertiliser from Sh7,000 per 50 kg bag, the country had a bumper harvest last year.
Image: GACHAGUA/X
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has insisted that the country's food security will not be affected by reports of fake fertiliser in the market.
The DP said the government is determined to get to the bottom of the crisis and will soon arrest and charge the ''crooks'' involved in the alleged racket.
Gachagua said that only 50,000 bags out of the 4 million bags of fertiliser that were imported ahead of the planting season failed to meet the set quality standards.
"The issue of fake fertiliser is a small issue because the quantity involved is negligible,'' Gachagua said when he met Kenyans living in Rwanda.
"We have imported over 4, million bags, but only 50,000 bags were brought by a crooked supplier.''
The DP said that out of the many suppliers who were given contracts, only one who brought in the 50,000 bags had "something that is not acceptable.''
"If you look at the percentages, it is actually negligible but we are not saying it is right,'' he said.
"Our security agencies have swung into action and some people will go to court.''
Gachagua said that the government's subsidised fertiliser programme has been largely successful since its introduction a year ago before some 'crooks' tried to interfere with it.
"The 50,000 bags is a small percentage that will not interfere with the food security because the percentage is little,'' he said.
The DP said that going forward, the government will put in place foolproof measures that will ensure that crooks do not infiltrate the fertiliser market.
"We will be more careful and next time we will be more vigilant, the first phase was successful that is why the crooks came up,'' he said.
He said that just in a church where one would not miss a rogue pastor out of 100 worshippers the government is grappling with crooks.
The DP said that when the government reduced the cost of fertiliser from Sh7,000 per 50 kg bag, the country had a bumper harvest last year.
"When we came into office, the cost of fertiliser was Sh7,000, we reduced it that year to Sh3,500 and as a result, we did 66 million bags of maize,'' he said.
The DP said the country projects over 80 million bags of maize this year after reducing the cost of fertiliser further to Sh2,500 per 50kb bag.