Counterfeit seeds impounded in Lira city

Lira, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | More than five tons of counterfeit seeds have been impounded in Lira City in an operation.

During the operation on Agro- input dealers on Thursday, the seeds were impounded from different Agro- input businesses.

Most of the fake seeds were maize, which is one of the most common food and cash crop grown in Northern Uganda and most varieties come from Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Patrick Alip, the Lira District Agricultural Officer said his office has received a number of complaints from farmers who said the maize seeds they were buying are not yielding.

He said that most unsuspecting farmers are increasingly falling prey to counterfeit seed makers.

Dorcus Alum, the Principal Agricultural Officer of Lira District cautioned the traders against supplying fake inputs.

However, the Agro- input dealers say some of them are intentionally selling counterfeit seeds and chemicals for the greed of money.

Alex Sunday Elume, the Manager of Brown Way and Family Agro- input blames the supplier agents for hiking the price of the products, which forces the dealers to either overcharge the farmers or sell counterfeit products.

But Walter Okol, CEO of Agrisol Africa LTD who is also the Secretary-General for the Agro- input dealers in Lango subregion blamed the government for allowing an influx of counterfeit products in the market because they have failed in regulation.

To protect their market, the input dealers convened a meeting and agreed to name and shame all shops selling counterfeit products.

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