Police have urged farmers to exercise caution when purchasing agricultural inputs and to ensure they buy from certified agro-dealers to avoid being duped.
This comes after Police at Jenda in Mzimba District arrested George Moyo and Samson Kavala for manufacturing and selling counterfeit fertilizer at Jenda Trading Centre in the district.
Publicist for Jenda Police, MacFarlen Mseteka, says the arrest on 26 December followed numerous complaints by local farmers around the trading centre.
Mseteka says Moyo hired Kavala to mix clay soil with agricultural lime and a smaller amount of fertilizer, making 50 kilogrammes of counterfeit fertilizer in a bush at Swaswa area, close to Embangweni Trading Centre.
Police have since seized 45 bags of the knock-off fertiliser which awaits analysis from the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS).
The two suspects are expected to appear in court soon as they have been charged with manufacturing of commodity (Fertilizer) without the authority of MBS, which is against section 29 sub-section 1 of the MBS Act and selling counterfeit products.
