Toyota Tsusho Corporation has started production of fertiliser at its $15 million blending plant in Eldoret, Kenya, targeting 150,000 tonnes of output in a year.

Local production was expected to reduce the cost of fertiliser by 40 per cent to an average Ksh2,000 ($20) per 50kg bag but its Baraka brand has entered the market at between $28 and $30 a bag, depending on volumes.

Kenya’s government spends $300 million annually to import fertiliser, which is sold at subsidised price of about $16 to farmers compared with market rates of up to $35 per 50kg bag. MEA fertiliser retails for about $30 a bag while Mavuno, an organic mix, goes for $22 a bag.

Toyota Tshusho Fertiliser Africa chief executive Akira Wada said the company was carrying out feasibility studies on use of natural gas as a feedstock. The company has already exported a consignment to Burundi and is exploring opportunities in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

Tanzania is also in advanced stages of setting up a fertiliser plant as East Africa seeks independence from imports. TTFA hopes to bolster sales by leveraging on its vehicle dealerships to improve distribution. Kenya relies fully on imports to meet its demand of 600,000 tonnes annually.

The imports have been partly blamed for erratic crop output because of arrival delays relative to the season of application and unsuitability to local soils. TTFA is working with Moi University, International Fertilizer Development Centre and Africa Fertilizer Agribusiness Partnership to develop products that nurture African soils for maximum harvests.

Mr Wada said the company was targeting products that would yield 30 bags of maize per acre compared with about eight bags per acre that an average farmer harvests.

The company imports micronutrients and blends them with local feedstock to make fertilisers for maize, wheat, sugarcane, legumes and rice mostly in the North Rift and western parts of Kenya. “We are working with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to develop fertiliser suitable for paddy rice growing in Mwea in eastern Kenya,” said Mr Wada.

Ernst & Young agrees to pay $11m for fraud

ERNST & YOUNG LLP will pay over $11.8 million to settle charges of deceptive income tax accounting that its clients used to inflate earnings. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US capital markets regulator, said Ernst & Young agreed to pay the money relating to the audits of Weatherford International.

The oil firm agreed last month to pay $140 million in penalties. The proceeds from the two firms will be used to compensate investors who were harmed by the accounting fraud. Also charged in the SEC’s order are an Ernst & Young partner and a former tax partner.

“Both agreed to suspensions to settle charges that they disregarded significant red flags during the audits and reviews,” said SEC, adding that EY failed to detect the fraud for four years.

“Audit and national office professionals must appropriately address known deficiencies in their auditing of high-risk areas, and auditors must have the fortitude to refuse to sign off on an audit if important issues remain unresolved,” said SEC’s Director for Division of Enforcement Andrew Ceresney.

How apt such resolve would be in Kenya where companies passed off as fit and proper by professionals routinely end up seeking bailouts from the state, with serious ramifications remains to be seen.

Kenya floors Nigeria in value of shares traded at the Nairobi bourse

THE VALUE of shares traded on the Nairobi Securities Exchange surpassed Nigeria’s for the first time on record in September, as foreign investors shunned the West African economy, battered by militant attacks on oil facilities and shortages of foreign exchange.

The value of shares traded on Nigeria’s exchange fell to $139 million, near the lowest since Bloomberg began compiling such data in 2009. In Kenya, which has an economy an eighth the size of Nigeria’s, but which is set to grow by almost six per cent this year, the value rose 4.2 per cent from August to $152 million.

Nigeria is caught between the highest inflation rate in more than a decade and an economy set to contract for the first time since 1991.

Indian leisure chain boosts single tourist visa with $1.5 facility
ROYAL ORCHID Hotel will expand its portfolio in East Africa with a $1.5 million facility in the Masai Mara National Reserve, famed for the wildebeest migration, in two months.

The Indian leisure chain is marketing the 60-bed Mara Azure as a five-star with a dozen luxury tents, cottages and conference facilities.

It will be sold as part of the chain’s East Africa circuit covering Royal Orchid Azure in Nairobi and Royal Orchid Malaika Beach Resort Tanzania in what is expected to be a boost to the single tourist visa initiative covering Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.

Pricing will also be key when the hotel opens to visitors in December. ”We must have competitive prices in the Masai Mara for all visitors and this will be our key plank,” said Mara Azure Director Naran Hirani.

DFCU Bank customer? Now you have 300 more ATMs, thanks to Visa

DFCU BANK has increased its distribution channels by linking up with the Visa network. This will give customers access to 300 more ATMs, compared to the current 100 access points.

Travelling customers will also have access to cash and point of sale terminals across the world. Visa has become a go-to solution for banks seeking to improve accessibility as its rivals Interswitch Uganda builds its coverage.

Interswitch offers access to about 200 ATMS and has signed up about 20 financial institutions. Kampala Securities Exchange listed DFCU is counting on the expanded coverage to seamlessly shift from an SME focused to a retail bank. Its shares have been stable at Ush789 ($0.23).