Posted on March, 13, 2019 at 09:54 am
By JOHN NALIANYA
Bungoma County Assembly Committee on Agriculture wants an investigation on the subsidised fertiliser supplied to the region dismissing it as fake.
The input is mixed with stone particles, according to committee vice-chair Sospeter Nyongesa.
“We have received samples from farmers from across the county and preliminary investigations show that the fertiliser had been mixed with lots of stone particles," Nyongesa said.
The MCA said samples had been taken to the Ministry of Agriculture to ascertain the genuineness of fertiliser.
He said farmers had raised the alarm after receiving the fertiliser. The assembly committee summoned Agriculture CEC Chrirasha Makanda for explanation.
“We have summoned the CEC Agriculture on Wednesday next week to ascertain whether the fertiliser is genuine. If we find it is not then somebody will be brought to book,” Nyongesa said.
Farmers who spoke to the Star doubted the quality of the fertiliser issued by the county government last week. They said it contained stones.
Gladys Ndiwa from Mt Elgon said farmers had been happy that the county government had finally decided to distribute fertiliser, but they were disappointed when they started planting to find that it was full of stones.
“We were glad that the county decided to give out fertiliser but the quality is wanting as there were more stones than fertiliser,” she said.
Fiona Cherop, a widow, will now buy fertiliser from businessmen. “We were happy when we were called to Bungoma and issued with the fertiliser. However, when we started planting we realised that it was of poor quality. We need proper fertiliser to continue planting,” she said.
The farmers accused the county of giving them a raw deal. They asked the county officials to take away the input and supply them with genuine one.
Agriculture CEC Makanda told the Star he has asked for samples and that he would only comment after the tests.
Source: The Star