Fake herbicides flood Katsina local markets

The rate at which farmers patronise herbicides this year has resulted to the proliferation of fake products in Katsina markets, a development that is causing concern among the farmers. Many farmers have ignorantly wasted their monies and time on fake herbicides which adversely affected crop production on their farms. Aminu Sani, a rice farmer at […]

The rate at which farmers patronise herbicides this year has resulted to the proliferation of fake products in Katsina markets, a development that is causing concern among the farmers.

Many farmers have ignorantly wasted their monies and time on fake herbicides which adversely affected crop production on their farms.

Aminu Sani, a rice farmer at Maska,  Funtua LGA, said herbicides have in the years helped tremendously in getting rid of stubborn weeds and shrubs in farms at a low cost but that bad eggs have now infiltrated the market selling fake products.

“Where a farmer will spend N5,000 on labourers to weed his farm, herbicides of N1,200 would suffice. This led to massive demand for the chemicals in the markets. Bad eggs took advantage of the situation and started adulterating the products,” Sani said.

Another farmer, Hussain Iliyasu, said he bought three litres of a brand of herbicide but for over two weeks after spraying there was no effect on the weeds. Later he realized that he bought the adulterated one.

“Besides the N3,600 I wasted,  I also wasted about three weeks of the season without planting my farm waiting for the supposed herbicide to effectively work,” Iliyasu said.

An agro-allied products dealer, Alhaji Adams Sama’ila, said the trend started last year but it grew out of hand this year because there seems to be no standard check on retailers and hawkers of agro allied products, especially in the  local markets.

“The adulterators of the products use the original cans of the herbicides to repackage the combination of gasoline and other substances instead of glyphosate and Isopropylamine that make up the original herbicide,” Sama’ila said.

He added that those who buy their goods from accredited dealers have low risk of buying adulterated products.

“Majority of the bad elements are small-scale retailers and hawkers who mostly sell in local markets where they can easily take advantage of the naivety of local farmers,” he said.

He therefore expressed the need for agro allied companies to put a check on how their products are being sold in the markets so as to protect the integrity and sanctity of their products and brand name.