Ahero Township is home to rice, the same way the neighboring Muhoroni town is home to sugarcane.
It also is home to Ahero and West Kano irrigation schemes, but at the same time home to fraudulent rice traders who will dupe you into buying the cheaper I.R-8 rice in the name of the aromatic Basmati brand.
As a native of the place, with my grandfather owning several acres of the same product only 500 meters north of the township and Ahero being my point of boarding and alighting whenever I go back to ‘Dala’, I have since learnt their trick and how to avoid it.
With the real basmati in traditional reed-woven platters balancing on their heads, the traders, usually women, will move along hawking the products to the travelers who have stopped by.
Most of the unsuspecting buyers end up satisfied by what they can see on the platters, some of whom smell the availed product (fresh basmati has a special and unique smell) to ensure that it is indeed the one.
Things, however, change when they squat down to pack the kilo you ordered for, where they pack something completely different, and wish you a safe journey back to ‘kapango’ (far away town).
You will only realize you bought I.R which we call ‘Ayar ‘ when you get back home, and it is not producing the sweet smell it should when on the plate.
To avoid this, confirm the packed product before paying, or better yet, buy it in the many shops and mills around the tiny township located East of Kisumu City.
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