By Nico van Burick
More than 14% of crop protection products in the agricultural trade are illegal, and in some countries more than 50% of the seeds sold to farmers are counterfeit and part of the illegal trade.
Laurent Giezendanner, the head of corporate security at the Syngenta Group, revealed these disturbing figures at a webinar of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) on counterfeiting in agriculture. He said the estimated annual loss to the industries due to counterfeit seeds and chemicals amounted to about $6 billion (R109 billion) annually.
Syngenta alone investigated 1 900 cases of illegal trade in the 2023-2024 season. In the process, 16 000 tonnes of illegal chemicals and 8 000 tonnes of illegal seed products were seized. In Uganda alone, up to 40% of the seeds were counterfeit.
“This is a global crisis with far-reaching consequences,” Giezendanner said. “Counterfeit seeds threaten the survival of local farmers, and have a huge impact on food supply and crop quality worldwide.”
His investigative team intercepted more than $245 million (R4.4 billion) worth of illegal crop protection products, seeds and other counterfeit products last year.
Jeff Hardy, director general of the New York-based Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), said illicit trade was “not a pretty picture”.
TRACIT is probably the only trade organisation that investigates the illegal smuggling of agricultural goods internationally, and this includes sectors such as tobacco, alcohol, fishing, forestry and wildlife.
“Most people don’t realise,” he said, “that even complex chemicals like pesticides are vulnerable to counterfeiting. That’s why the media plays a very important role in informing the public. It’s not just handbags and music that are being counterfeited anymore.”
Counterfeiting on the rise
One in ten cigarettes is smuggled illegally, according to Hardy, and one in four bottles of liquor is a counterfeit, unregulated and illegal product. The smuggling of animal products and exotic plants has also taken off, leading to the extinction of some species.
If all illegal trade activities were added up worldwide, it would amount to about $2 trillion (R36 trillion) per year, between 2% and 3% of total world trade, he says. “It may sound like a small percentage, but for governments desperate to grow the economy and expand the development benefits of trade, $2 trillion could be put back into the economy if illicit trade could be stopped.”
With the increase in online sales, the public has also become much more exposed to counterfeit products, Hardy said. “There is much less control, and buyers are exposed to risks. For example, no one would have thought before that you could find an international market for pesticides online.
“In most countries, licenses are required to sell these products, and in some cases even to buy them. The question is, to what extent are the online platforms complying with these regulations. Governments will need to tighten controls to address the issue.”
Hardy said he hoped that the rise in illegal trade could be curbed soon, though there was no sign yet that the trend was reversing. Suppliers were making every effort and investing significant resources to combat unfair and illegal competition – funds that could have been used to improve their products.
Laurent Giezendanner and Jeff Hardy both urged farmers to buy only from trusted local suppliers. They specifically cautioned young farmers, who are increasingly shopping online, to be wary of products advertised on social media.
Thanks to Syngenta’s investigations, 10 000 advertisements for illegal products were removed from online platforms last year, 300 fake websites were shut down, and 100 fraudulent media ads were taken down.
