Nairobi, April 12 -- The government will only compensate farmers who received 3,000 bags of fertiliser flagged as substandard, even as the Ministry of Agriculture maintains there is no fake input in the subsidy programme.

Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary, Mithika Linturi, yesterday said the Kenya Bureau of Standards should be blamed for the substandard fertiliser fiasco.

Appearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Mr Linturi said of the 2.3 million bags of fertiliser distributed as of April 4 under the subsidy programme, "only 3,000 were flagged as substandard".

He added that the fertiliser, made by Kel Chemicals Ltd, was found to have 24 per cent of phosphorous and not 26 per cent as recommended.

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