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Maize farmers are in shock following the discovery of a business venture that was counterfeiting maize seeds in Njoro, Nakuru county.

The discovery was made during a joint raid on the premises located in Golf estate by the county intelligence team and officers from Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS).

According to sources privy to the investigations, the businessman had been placed on the team’s radar for the last one week until they pounced on him Monday night.

“The team was acting on intel when they raided Plytech Supplies. The business was registered for the purpose of selling timber,” stated a police report seen by the People Daily.

The raid led to the discovery of items that may have exposed farmers to the risk of purchasing poor quality seeds presented in the market as certified.

Among the items recovered included Kenya Seed packaging materials, KEPHIS security stickers, seed dressing chemicals and a seed dressing machine.

The team also recovered 101 kilograms of treated seeds, a sewing machine, 18 bags of untreated maize, a weighing machine, office records, a laptop and 40 litres of glue.

Apart from counterfeiting the seeds, it was established that the proprietor was running a maize milling plant without the required permits.

“The proprietor was also found counterfeiting other brands of maize flour which were found already packed in bales. The counterfeited brands include Sembe, Magharibi, Taji among others,” the report read further.

The items were impounded at the Nakuru Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters.
Efforts to get a comment from the County Security Committee which was in charge of the raid were futile as they had already travelled to Kajiado for a high level security meeting.

The discovery comes days after farmers in the county lamented that there was a shortage of certified seeds in the market.