Most farmers in Uasin Gishu County and by extension the North Rift region, the country's food-basket might have gone through a lot of challenges when buying products from Agrovets.
A spot check to some of the Agrovets in Eldoret town has revealed how some of them have been misleading farmers while others take advantage to unethically earn more profits.
Here is how;
Employing untrained attendants.
A visit to several Agrovets indicated that most managers preferred to employ untrained attendants. By these, they would be in a position to save money by paying them at least half the salary of the trained ones. The untrained attendants would have difficulty in explaining how drugs and chemicals are used. Sometimes they would be forced to give a wrong explanation to make sales to the unsuspecting farmers.
Selling counterfeit product
Some Agrovets rebrand chemicals and drugs in order to convince the unsuspecting farmers to buy their products. Challenges tend to arise when the farmer applies the chemical or drugs and they fail to function effectively. Occasionally, the farmers are blamed by the Agrovets that they failed to follow instructions which are not always the case.
Exaggerate prices
Some of the Agrovets arbitrally increase prices of products to make an extra cent. This could be attributed to the untrained attendants with the intention of making more money to top up from the half salary they are getting. By doing these, they are fleecing farmers, in the long run, they suffer by purchasing expensive commodities.
Selling expired products.
Selling expired products like seedlings have a great impact on the viability of seedlings. In most cases, the non-viable seeds fail to germinate hence a farmer has to deal with losses. Expired drugs are never effective if used because the period of functionality is due.
To be the first to get the latest Political News updates for free, WhatsApp the word "POLITICS" to 0717410719.