A SCAM has been unearthed in which some farmers have been tricked by a vendor to buy fake fertiliser in Kapiri Mposhi.
Kabwe acting District Agricultural Coordinator Patricia Ntinga, has confirmed the development in an interview.
Ms. Ntinga said the fertiliser analytical results produced by the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) have revealed that the commodity did not meet any of the elements of the product.
She however said the matter has been referred to the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS), a statutory national standards body for the preparation and promulgation of Zambian standards, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), a statutory body responsible for promoting compliance.
Ms. Ntinga has since cautioned farmers in Kabwe not to buy products from mobile dealers because they often times have ill-motives.
“Farmers should be wary of mobile dealers and should not be hoodwinked to buy these products. Often times for the dealers to follow the farmers, there could be some ill-motives attached,” Ms. Ntinga cautioned.
And the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI) analytical report confirmed that limestone and sand were mainly used in the production of the said fertiliser instead of the recommended NPK elements that provide adequate nutrition to plants.
Meanwhile, one of the affected farmers, Mr Mike Kabunda has complained that he has made a loss of over K25, 000 for 80 by 50 kilogrammes of the fake fertiliser which he bought from a mobile vendor only identified as PRI of plot number 1786, Lubambe Road, Lusaka.
Mr. Kabunda said at first, he only suspected that the fertiliser was substandard after using it on his crops but his fears were confirmed by the analytical results from the ZARI head office in Lusaka.
He said at least 20 farmers are affected but the number could be higher as many people bought the commodity from the vendor who had camped in the Mukonchi area of Kapiri Mposhi
Fertiliser vendor swindles Mukonchi farmers
