The government has clarified allegations by former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua of fertiliser donations from Russia that were sold to farmers.
In a statement, the government stated that it had received 33,835 metric tonnes, which is approximately 676,700,50kg bags of fertilizer raw materials, as a donation from the Russian government.
This is contrary to the allegations made yesterday by Gachagua that the state received 40 tonnes.
“The Russian government gave us 40 metric tonnes of fertilizers donation, it was given to this Maisha minerals by the president and another 30 tonnes given to these men, they blended and sold to government,” said Gachagua on Monday in an interview with KTN news.
The government has further explained why it had to blend the fertilizer raw materials into crop-specific blends.
“The above donated fertilizer raw materials were in forms that could not be applied directly by farmers on their crops and therefore required blending and granulation into crop-specific fertilizers to cover various value chains,” read the statement in part.
According to the government, they aimed to turn the fertiliser into a form that could be used directly by farmers, increasing quantity to cover various crop value chains and availability.
Out of the donated fertilisers, a total of 103,350 metric tonnes of blended crop-specific fertilizer types were produced and distributed to farmers across the country under the National Fertilizer Subsidy Programme (NFSP).
The government further confirmed that Maisha Minerals and Fertilizers Limited was identified to blend and distribute the fertilizer under the Fertilizer Subsidy programme after a competitive bidding process.
All the 2.07 million 50 kg bags of blended subsidized fertilizers were later distributed to registered farmers across the country.
Gachagua had also blamed the president for importing the substandardised fertiliser through the company.
“When they were trying to fix Linturi when they brought bad fertilizers, a company called Maisha minerals and fertilisers limited owned by DEVKI who is a partner of the president and he is the one who imported bad fertiliser,” said Gachagua.
The former DP alleged that all procurement processes for fertilisers are done at State House by the president.
