Are "fake" inputs to blame for low yields?

Three hundred agricultural officers will be hired in Kenya to protect farmers from counterfeit inputs. Unregulated and low quality chemicals and other farm inputs have been blamed for declining production and quality, especially in Eastern and Central provinces, an assistant minister for agriculture, Peter Kaindi, has said.

The State has directed agricultural offices in three districts of Central Province to conduct surveys in farm input shops to ensure standards are met, he added. The project will target counterfeits in Murang'a North and South and Thika districts, which have witnessed food shortages in recent months. Though the three districts have the potential to grow and export food to other areas of the country, many residents depend on relief food and imports from other districts.

For example, Murang'a South has deficits of 353,000 sacks of maize, 136,000 bags of beans and 123 sacks of potatoes. Last season, the district harvested 157, 000 bags of maize against a demand of 500,000.

The private sector has also launched initiatives to steer farmers away from counterfeit products, and towards their own brands. Two years ago, Bayer East Africa initiated a programme called Green World Kilimo Bora that aimed to increase the market value of products in local and international markets. According to Bayer managing director Hans-Joachim Wegfahrt, the scheme has now grown and will soon reach all farmers in the country.

“We have opened 60 resource centres in the country to support small-holders, helping them reach demanding quality and food-safety standards,” said Wegfahrt. “Initial results are promising. Farmers produce more vegetables than they need for their families and can sell the surplus at local markets and, increasingly, for export.”

Kaindi said the ministry had teamed up with Bayer on the plan. He added that a wide presence of products for which regulatory approval had not been obtained continued to be problematic.

Business Daily