Cartels make fertiliser out of reach by killing cheap brands

A hand displaying samples of white fertiliser. [Photo: Courtesy]

Kenya relies heavily on imported farming resources, fertiliser being on one of them. Just a month to planting season, the Government announced there would be no subsidised fertiliser as it has always been.  How helpful is this? Every year, Kenyans are treated to news of ‘fake’ fertilisers nabbed somewhere.

Then the fertiliser goes and the owners remain a mystery. It has since emerged that it is not fake fertiliser. The arrests are instigated by cartels so as to gain monopoly in the market and hike prices. Through this, they fetch as much as Sh2 billion from sales.