Government Cracks Down on Substandard Fertilizers from KEL Chemicals

The Kenyan government has revoked the operating license of KEL Chemicals, a fertilizer company based in Thika.

This action comes after allegations surfaced that the company supplied farmers with low-quality fertilizers through the government’s subsidy program. Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi made the announcement today following a visit to KEL’s facilities. During the inspection, Linturi expressed concerns about the company’s production processes, particularly those involving the mixing, packaging, and distribution of fertilizers. He has declared the production area a crime scene and ordered a complete halt to operations until investigations are complete.

Additionally, the government will withhold any outstanding payments owed to KEL Chemicals until the matter is resolved. KEL Chemicals, through its General Manager Chandrabhan Chimurkah, acknowledges a potential issue in their production processes between March 5th and 10th of 2024. The company is currently tracing 3,000 potentially affected fertilizer bags, with over 500 already recovered and submitted to the Kenya Revenue Authority for testing by government authorities. While KEL maintains the incident was minor and involved potential contamination of ingredients during mixing, initial reports suggest a more serious lapse in quality control.

Sources claim that workers may have unintentionally contaminated the fertilizer by stepping on ingredients or collecting fallen materials. This incident has resulted in the temporary closure of the company’s powder mixing section and the unfortunate loss of approximately 150 jobs. Despite the current situation, KEL Chemicals maintains its commitment to cooperating with the investigation. The company is actively assisting in locating the potentially affected fertilizer and has pledged its full support to the authorities. The company owner Mr Chimurkah, with over four decades of experience in the fertilizer industry, expresses his shock at these allegations claiming this is the first time he has encountered such quality issues with his products.

KEL’s legal representative Victor Mosota assures the public that the company has conducted thorough internal investigations and will be releasing further details shortly. He emphasizes that no customer complaints were received before the media reports and that a comprehensive statement will be issued following the completion of their internal investigation. This license revocation follows the Ministry of Agriculture’s earlier move to suspend KEL’s operations and seize its products nationwide. The decision stems from tests conducted by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) which revealed that three specific fertilizer blends produced by KEL Chemicals, Kelphos Plus, Kelphos Gold, and NPK 10:26:10, failed to meet the required quality standards.