Egyptian ministers warn of counterfeit pesticide use

Officials in Egypt have warned that counterfeit pesticides are causing problems in the country, threatening agricultural productivity and the country’s ecosystems. Earlier this week, the agriculture committee in the lower house of the Egyptian Parliament warned that, due to insufficient government inspection and lack of effective management, counterfeit and outdated pesticides are still being widely used.  

Parliamentarians warned that counterfeiters have been producing agricultural chemicals with the brand names and product labelling of recognised companies in order to deceive farmers, and that in some cases these chemicals have damaged crops and tainted soils.

Experts in the country have said that the twin problems of counterfeiting pesticides and fertilisers and smuggling banned products are endemic in Egypt and warned that, unless the situation is taken in hand, there could be serious implications for public and environmental health.

In response to this, the government has inaugurated an Agricultural Pesticide Committee governed by the Ministry of Agriculture, which has embarked upon an awareness raising campaign to engage with farmers and improve knowledge on which chemicals to use and which to avoid.

However, it appears the situation is not so cut and dry. Greenpeace, which has recently begun work in Egypt, has said that the oligarchic stranglehold of a handful of large agribusinesses on the Egyptian market has given rise to the healthy illegal trade in potentially dangerous chemicals.

Last week, Ahmed Droubi, a biologist working with Greenpeace, declared in the Egypt Independent that poorer farmers could not meet the large companies’ asking prices and so had to resort to more dubious alternatives. He said, “[These companies] can manipulate prices as they like and create market need… Therefore, small farmers resort to smuggling illegal pesticides and manufacturing fake fertilizers as they can buy them at cheaper prices.”

In January, Europol, Eruope’s crime intelligence agency, warned that the trade in counterfeit agricultural chemicals is also growing in Europe, driven by rising input costs and facilitated by experienced organised criminals. Europol said the ‘low risk – high profit’ margin of the illegal pesticides market has attracted criminal gangs and given rise to a situation wherein an estimated 25 percent of pesticides in circulation are believed to have come from illegal sources in some North-Eastern states.

The agency said the trade exists throughout Europe and suggested the use of banned or counterfeit chemicals could have serious health and ecological implications. Europol called on the EU to launch an investigation into the traceability of various chemicals in an attempt to stamp out the trade.