KEBS recalls SBL Innovate's 'organic fertiliser' after exposé

The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has withdrawn SBL Innovate Manufacturer's standardisation mark and ordered a recall of all its products from the market.

This comes after an expose by Africa Uncensored shed light on a scheme by corrupt individuals to sell earth-scooped sand as affordable fertiliser for farming. The GTC-branded products are excavated at the Kariandusi diatomite company in Nakuru County.

"After (Africa Uncensored) reached out to us, we started investigations on the issue, and that is where we were able to communicate with the [National Cereals and Produce Board] (NCPB). We sent our market surveillance officers to different depots in the country; we picked samples and have since done the analysis," said KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari.

The NCPB was the parastatal in charge of the distribution of subsidised fertiliser across the country and is where the purported GTC products have been stored since mid-2022.

According to Ngari, the preliminary results of tests on some of the 59 samples of fertiliser picked from different NCPB depots showed non-compliance.

"We have communicated the same to the manufacturer, and we intend to take legal action. We have given conditions on our S-mark—that the manufacturer should maintain the same quality they had when we were giving the standardisation mark."

SBL Innovate Director Joe Kariuki, the man at the centre of controversy, claims there was no partnership with the NCPB and that an agency contract was all he was given as a platform to sell the products.

"I want to be truthful on this. Usually, in any company, you have those kinds of gaps. I've already created employment for more than a hundred youths countrywide, and these youths sometimes come for training, but [levels of understanding differ]. [We might think] people have understood whatever we have shown them, and later on [discover] they're not doing the right thing," he said.

The products were marketed as subsidised organic fertilisers and packed in 25-kg bags branded GTC, an all-purpose organic fertiliser suitable for farming. Some 800,000 bags were sold, but some farmers have complained about the aftermath of the use of the products.

Judith Oketch, one of the farmers, told Africa Uncensored, "Crops stagnated in growth, and I incurred losses after using the organic fertiliser. I bought it because it was cheap compared to other fertilisers."

She added, "An agriculture specialist did an analysis and concluded that the fertiliser was incompatible with my farm. I was convinced the product was original when I saw the KEBS standardisation stamp."

Jane Nyariro, another farmer who used the products, said, "I sourced the GPC fertiliser from the government store, not an individual agro vet. I suspected the fertiliser was not up to standard."

Nyariro noted the need for piloting before a new product is taken to market.

"Was that done before it was taken to the farmers to buy? Did KEBS confirm this was an authentic fertiliser before it reached the farmers?"

Following the prolonged drought of 2022, delayed rains, and the high cost of imported fertiliser, the government announced a Sh5 billion fertiliser subsidy to cushion farmers, opening the doors to schemes where they could not access the product because of insufficient supply.