Kenyan company plans bio-organic fertiliser plants

Two Phillipine-based companies have entered an agreement with Kenyan start-up Wanda Organic to establish bio-organic fertiliser manufacturing plants in Nakuru and Laikipia counties by the end of the year-end.

Under the tripartite agreement, ELR Family Trading Inc and Richfund International Company Ltd will provide technical support to Wanda Organic to produce fertiliser branded Plantmate Bio-Organic.

The fertiliser is a result of over 40 years of biotechnology research in Southeast Asia, Australia and the Middle East.Wanda said Monday the product has been successfully tested in Machakos and Makueni counties where farmers reported up to 30 per cent yield increases.

“Manufacturing it locally means saving on importation costs of the microbes and these are the benefits we will be passing on to the farmers,” said Marion Moon, the founder and chief executive of Wanda.

She said the fertiliser will sell at between Sh2,000 and Sh2,500 per 50-kg bag when the plants begin producing commercially.

The fertiliser also contains nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, micronutrients, probiotics, enzymes, amino acids and growth promoting substances.

“Our product works on the soils physically, biological and chemical properties making it a unique solution in the Kenyan market,” said Ms Moon during the signing of the pact.

Additional trials of the organic fertiliser have been carried out in Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Nakuru and Laikipia counties with support from the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre.

Agriculture Secretary Willy Bett witnessed the signing and asked farmers to access the soil survey report from their county offices.

The upcoming fertiliser plant is the latest one after Japanese conglomerate Toyota Tsusho Corporation in 2014 signed an agreement with the government paving way for construction of a Sh103 billion fertiliser plant in Eldoret.

The ministry targets the first production of Nitrogen Potassium Calcium (NPK) from the plant whose location was picked based on the high quantities of the fertiliser consumed in the North Rift region.

Mr Bett Monday said the factory is set for completion in August this year.