Uganda impounded fake agrochemicals and expired seeds

Inspectors from the Crop Protection Department at the Agriculture ministry, on Friday impounded about 1,000 kilogrammes of fake and expired seeds and chemicals, in an operation to rid the market of fake agrochemicals as the second planting season starts.

The fake products got from Container Village and factories at Kawempe were mainly expired seeds, seeds with forged labels, adulterated chemicals, seeds mixed with food colour among others. “This and a lot of other expired drugs and chemicals have been found on shelves, from where unsuspecting farmers get them,” Mr Franco Tumuryamye, a principal agricultural inspector who headed the operation, said.

Among the confiscated drugs was Dithane M45, used on tomatoes, which has not been manufactured for some years. He said that the operation was intended to assess the level of compliance by the traders, and sensitise farmers on where to get proper seeds.

He explained that some chemicals were dangerous to both crops and human beings, while fake seeds fail to germinate or give poor yields, causing losses to farmers. "Organisations like Crops life and Uganda National Agro dealers Association should be more vigilant to get the best from their businesses,” he added.

Mr James Karyabakora, a Principal Agricultural Inspector in charge of diagnosis, said they are demanding that government close factories forging seed and chemicals to get the fake agro-produce out of the market.

"We have trained and sensitised traders in this area about the proper handling of such chemicals for their own good, but many traders have failed to register with the ministry to learn repackaging processes,” he said.

He said that some of these chemicals lose capacity to work effectively after careless exposure that they want to help farmers secure their produce.