A farmer using genuine seeds displays his produce at an agricultural show in Uganda recently. Picture: File
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Govt issuing new licences to traders dealing in agricultural inputs, after establishing that farmers were losing billions of shillings purchasing counterfeit farm inputs that neither improve production nor control pests and diseases.
Govt also working on a criteria of selecting traders, who will either import or manufacture agricultural inputs in the country, including farm machinery and equipment.
Uganda has launched a crack down on the growing sale of counterfeit farm inputs, a move that could cost traders with stocks of such products millions of shillings.
Agriculture State Minister Zarubabel Nyiira said the government was issuing new licences to traders dealing in agricultural inputs, after establishing that farmers were losing billions of shillings purchasing counterfeit farm inputs that neither improve production nor control pests and diseases.
“It is so happens that our people in the commercial sector dealing in agricultural inputs—chemicals, pesticides, seeds, fertilisers, and drugs for animals—are really doing us injustice. Farmers are very desperate buying seeds, which do not germinate, pesticides which do not kill ticks on animals, and now the animals are dying because the drugs are counterfeits,” said Mr Zarubabel.
The government is also working on a criteria of selecting traders, who will either import or manufacture agricultural inputs in the country, including farm machinery and equipment. The dealers will also be allowed to distribute the inputs to districts through agents to farmers.
The minister said the exercise will involve the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, and traders will be issued with new licences once the selection is completed, to necessitate tracking of counterfeit inputs.
The sale of counterfeit agricultural inputs in Uganda has been on the rise in recent years, following the liberalisation of the economy in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
However, Uganda is not the only country affected by the menace as Tanzania and Kenya are also struggling to combat unscrupulous traders selling counterfeit inputs, mainly fertilisers and seeds to farmers.
In May this year, an anti-fake seed agency—Alliance for Seed Industry in Eastern and Southern Africa was launched in Kenya to step up the fight against counterfeit seeds, which are hampering yields fin the region. The agency has developed stringent seed regulations and increased farmer education programmes to weed out the fake seeds from the market.
The agency, which is a public-private partnership between African Seed Trade Association and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, is expected to combat the problem and find solutions in a five-year project, partly funded by the United States Agency for International Development. It is to be implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
Uganda dealers in agriculture inputs welcomed the government’s move to eradicate counterfeits that have for years hampered productivity in the agriculture sector.
“We agree with the government decision to regulate sale of agricultural inputs, but there is a need to have all stakeholders involved in coming up with the regulation so that no one complains,” Simon Kimani, the head of finance at Farm Inputs Care Centre said.
Mr Kimani said involving dealers in regulating counterfeits will help in implementing the new directive, while Geoffrey Okello, the managing director of Otuke Private Sector Enterprise said farmers will be the winners in this.
“When this programme is rolled out, farmers will be the winner,” he said.
Uganda’s agriculture sector is currently facing many challenges, including a high population growth rate currently standing at 3.5 per cent per annum and expected to reach 50 million by 2025 compared with three per cent growth in agricultural production.
