SBL Manufacturers Limited sues KEBS over claim of selling substandard fertilizer

Silica Booster Limited, popularly known as SBL Innovate Limited, that has been accused of selling fake fertilizer has sued the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for what it terms as giving wrong information about their products.

This comes after KEBS had warned Kenyans against ‘GPC Original Plus Organic Fertilizer’ which is manufactured by SBL saying it does not meet the Kenyan standards.

Speaking while addressing a press conference on Thursday, SBL Chief Executive Officer Joe Kariuki absolved his company from any wrongdoing and instead blamed his woes on trade wars.

He said the product has been in the market for the last two years and boasts of a customer base of about 100,000 farmers in 30 counties, further blaming KEBS for trying to kick out local companies from the fertilizer business.

"We believe the timing of these allegations is wrong. The planting season is here. In the last two years we have gained the trust, dedication and loyalty of 100,000 Kenyan farmers across 30 counties farming thousands of acres. This is the future of environmentally safe farming. This is what the competition want stopped," he said.

According to Kariuki, they were given a license to manufacture the GPC Original in January 2023 and GPC Booster in May the same year, wondering why KEBS is now disowning them.

“The story of GPS fertilizer scandal is fake news, the government knows it, KEBS knows it, and the National Cereal and Produce Board (NCPB) knows it...we all know monopolies   are terrible in Kenya,” declared Kariuki.

"Fair competition in the fertilizer industry should and must be allowed. Farmers will benefit from lower prices because of competition, there should be no monopoly in the fertilizer industry.”

His sentiment came just a day after KEBS disclosed that it has so far netted 5,840 bags of fertilizer each weighing 25 kilograms from various NCPB depots across the country that is substandard.

Appearing before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, KEBS officials disclosed that the product going by the name GPC Plus Organics Fertilizer being distributed bySBL Innovate Manufacturers Limited was not certified by the State body.

KEBS Managing Director Esther Ngari told the lawmakers that testing of 59 samples collected from various NCPB outlets had established that the fertilizer in question is substandard as what is being distributed is completely different from the organic fertilizer that the company had initially been certified to distribute.

According to Ngari, the seized fertilizers had high levels of PH, is dolomite in nature as it is composed of calcium, magnesium and carbonate whose purpose is to only act as a soil conditioner yet the required fertilizer in the Kenyan soil is organic fertilizer that is required to add nutrients and sustain growth.

Ngari who disclosed that they have already written to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to allow them to charge the said company, regretted that despite them only allowing organic fertilizer brand BL-GPC Original to be brought in to the country after fulfilling various condition, SBL engaged in misuse of the standardization mark as it went ahead and brought into the country a product that was not certified.