You could be one of the people who applied fertilisers last season, but got a miserable harvest even when you had increased acreage. Chances are you could have been a victim of fake fertiliser dealers. But worry no more as a new technology has been unveiled on the local market to help detect fake agriculture inputs, including fertilisers.Speaking at an ongoing Information and communications technology (ICT) for agricultural summit in Kigali yesterday, Bruce Kisitu, the coordinator of the project, explained that the technology uses mobile phone to verify whether a product is fake or genuine.The technology was developed by the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) in partnership with Crop Life Africa and the Middle East. Kisitu said under the project, agro-inputs like seeds, pesticide, fertilisers and pesticides are marked with a scratch-panel which gives a pack number and information about the products. Farmers then send the pack number by SMS to local short code, which automatically returns a verification of authenticity on the product being purchased.Kisitu said the innovation will also give farmers confidence and security. He noted that apart from increasing the market share of genuine agro-input dealers by about 10 per cent, it will also boost crop production by almost 60 per cent.“Fake agriculture inputs are causing food insecurity by affecting crop performance and depriving famers of profits through reduced output. It is therefore important to crack down this illicit trade, which has been a threat to agriculture production in Africa,” he said.According to a survey conducted by the International Fertiliser Development Centre in 2012, about 46 per cent of agro-inputs on the market are counterfeits, 12 per cent are believed to be expired, 19 per cent un registered, 8 per cent un labeled and 15 per cent out dated.Flex Jumbe, the secretary general of the Seed Trade Association of Malawi, said farmers have been kept under the blanket of poverty because of illicit trade in the agro-business industry.Innocent Musabyimana, the deputy director in charge of agricultural extension at the Rwanda Agricultural Board, said that the innovation once rolled out could be the driving factor towards greater crop productivity the board is targeting during the first season of 2014.He called upon the innovators to continue researching on the technology and come up with more efficient ways on how farmers in rural areas can adopt it very fast.“This may include incorporating it in our local language so that our farmers are able to understand it very fast.”The project is already being practiced in Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa.
