Investigation launched into fertilizer scam

The Department of Environment is investigating a suspected scam where contaminated vegetable compost (fertilizer) may have been supplied to farmers, officials said on Tuesday.

The suspected fraud and potential embezzlement of state funds has to do with reports that waste management companies were selling farmers contaminated fertilizer.

The suspicion is that the fertilizer contained wood deriving from carpenters, factories, or wood stripped from demolished buildings and which contains toxic substances such as paint, glue and various chemicals.

Use of such processed wood in making fertilizer is prohibited.

Speaking to the Stockwatch news outlet, senior department official Lakis Mesimeris described the situation as “tragic” and said the matter is being investigated after they received complaints.

Mesimeris said the problem has for the most part been identified among fertilizer producers in Larnaca district. But the department has begun taking samples from other districts as well, to see if the scam is more widespread than initially thought.

The official explained that these are waste products for which companies are paid handsomely to transfer them to sorting points. Instead, it appears the companies were selling them off to farmers.

“The issue is extremely serious since, beyond the financial aspect, it concerns the channeling of hazardous waste to farmers.”

As a result, hazardous substances may have entered the food chain.

The official said that checks would be carried out, and anyone found violating the law would suffer the sanctions prescribed by law.

Marios Adamidis, a senior official with the agriculture ministry, told the same news outlet that waste management companies must use only prescribed materials for the production of compost – such as trees and branches of exclusively organic origin.

Otherwise, he added, “foreign matter that is contaminated may end up in the food chain.”

According to Adamidis, the farmers themselves may also be culpable in this arrangement, as they ought to check what they buy.

“Unless they’re also involved in this illegal activity, which is something we are investigating.”

The official noted that farmers receive a grant from the Agricultural Payments Organisation to use fertilizer made of vegetable organic compost.