‘Fake Or Genuine?’ Agriculture CS Linturi Struggles to Justify Faulty Fertilizer
On Thursday night, Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi was called upon to justify his recent statements asserting that the fertilizer flagged by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) wasn’t counterfeit, but rather of inferior quality.
During an appearance on Citizen TV’s The Tonight Show, Linturi stumbled over his words while distinguishing between fake and substandard. He emphasized that despite media portrayals of the fertilizer as fake, he maintained that the subsidized fertilizer was merely of inferior quality.
According to Linturi, the fake is described as counterfeit, and substandard refers to falling below-agreed standards, specifically regarding the nutrient composition of fertilizer. He noted that being substandard doesn’t necessarily equate to being fake.
“Fake is counterfeit…standards are set by the regulating bodies on any product that is being manufactured. The standards set out and agreed on the fertilizer that I am insisting is not fake it is substandard, is that it was meant to have 26% of Nitrogen, 10% Phosphorus and 10% Potassium,” he said.
“When the tests are done and you find that the percentages of the important nutrients in the growth of a crop fall short of the agreed standards in terms of percentages it does not mean that once the fertilizer is applied to the plant it is fake. The plant would not have taken nutrients in the right quantity required.”
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Following his argument, Citizen TV’s Sam Gituku asked the CS, “What is the opposite of fake?” After which Linturi responded: “Genuine.”
Sam would then proceed to wonder if the substandard fertilizer was not fake, then would it be referred to as genuine, a question which the CS in a rejoinder said could only be answered by experts and scientists, adding that the issue has already been politicized and it is hard to understand it.
These things can only be understood by scientists; when it becomes an issue of defining what is correct and what is not,” Linturi said.
“People have just taken the matter and politicized it but if we were to have people who have no interest completely to explain to the public to understand it.”
CS Linturi defended his sentiments arguing that people ought to focus on the remedy for the substandard fertilizer and how to correct then produce in case it turns out to be of less value.
“It is just like a bread producer producing a standard bread of 500 grams when he produces it at 450 grams, it doesn’t mean the bread is fake and can’t be eaten, he will only have taken advantage of an innocent customer who paid for a bread with less grams,” Linturi noted.
‘Fake Or Genuine?’ Agriculture CS Linturi Struggles to Justify Faulty Fertilizer