Cons sells farmer 'fertile' soil

By Edwin Cheserek

A middle-aged man collapsed at home in Marakwet East District after he realised he had invested his savings in buying bags of soil instead of fertilizer.

When the rains pounded the region last week, the hardworking farmer visited a farm input outlet in Eldoret to purchase the commodity.

He resorted to travel to the town following an acute shortage of fertilizer in trading centres in his rural home. It is said the man had gone to a matatu terminus in Eldoret to enquire about prices and accessible stockists who could sell him the desired fertilizer at affordable rates.

After intense negotiations with people he met at the terminus, two men offered to assist him get the fertilizer. The farmer was unaware he was falling into a trap of conmen.

The man is said to have told the ‘traders’ that he was in need of ten bags of 50kgs each to plant his five-acre land.

After settling on a price of Sh2,500 per bag, the man was taken to the outlet at the backstreet in the town, where they claimed the fertilizer had been stored.

The farmer did not raise any suspicion about the deal even as they took long walking through the backstreets. When they reached the outlet, he was shown some neatly packed bags of fertilizer stocked in the house. He paid Sh25,000 for the commodity and requested for some time as he organised for transport to the main stage where he would board a matatu.

The men called a handcart operator who arrived and transported the ‘fertilizer’ to the designated terminus while the owner trailed him.

The operator loaded the bags onto a waiting pick-up matatu and the man paid him and left for normal work. As the vehicle climbed the hills along the Embobut Forest, the farmer knew he would beat the planting season’s deadline.

He had confidence that he would be at par with other farmers during harvest time at the end of the season. His imaginations were never to be after it turned out that he had been sold dark loamy soil in the guise of fertilizer. Relatives resuscitated the man after he fainted upon discovering the loss. The pain of losing the cash was unbearable.

It was later resolved that the bags containing the soil be kept away from being rained on awaiting investigations by the police.

A family source said they were contemplating seeking the help of a witchdoctor to administer a curse on the culprits.