Fact Check: Reports of fertilizer donated by Russia being sold to Kenyan farmers are fake

The Embassy of the Russian Federation has flagged as fake a press release ostensibly made by one of the country’s companies on the state of fertilizers allegedly donated to Kenya.

The statement, said to have emanated from a Russian company called Uralchem, was reacting to reports that fertilizer that was donated by the company to Kenya, to combat food insecurity, was now being sold to local farmers at a profit as part of the government-initiated fertilizer subsidy.

The four-paragraph statement went on to state, "solid reputation and transparency of business is key to our company's success. We strictly observe applicable laws, adhere to equal competition principles... and continuously support and improve corporate culture..." before finishing with, "We, therefore, with immediate effect, recall the sale of our donations, and ask Kenyan farmers to boycott all efforts to sell our donations in the Kenyan market."

But in a quick rejoinder, the Russian Embassy shot down the press release branding it as fake, in a tweet that asked Kenyan social media users to be wary of information on Russian fertilizers.

"Many fakes on Russian fertilizers are circulating in local social media. The Embassy of the Russian Federation hereby requests all users to verify information on Russian fertilizers in Kenya on official media resources of the Embassy." the Embassy wrote.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Russian fertilizer had been offered for free to Africa with the first shipment of 25,000 tons of humanitarian aid said to be headed to the Republic of Togo.

“The situation in the world today is really bad. Africa has been starving and will continue to starve, unfortunately. We, as a company, even decided to supply fertilizers to Africa for free, just because we are part of this global chain when you need to produce food,” Dmitry Konyaev, the chief executive of Uralchem, said to the press on Monday.

Uralchem, is a Russian manufacturer of mineral and potash fertilizer.