A Market Survey of Fraudulent Pesticides Sold in Mali

This study aims to quantify the share of unregistered pesticides on sale in Mali. To do so, the research team conducted a survey of agro-dealers operating in 10 different markets across Mali in June 2019, at the beginning of the 2019/20 cropping season. Fraudulent pesticides include both unregistered generic products as well as counterfeits. While identification of unregistered products is relatively straightforward, counterfeits are very difficult to identify with certainty, even by the authorized distributors, particularly without laboratory testing. Given the prohibitive cost of laboratory testing, and the limited resources available for this study, our team has focused solely on quantifying unregistered pesticides, which we can measure with some confidence. By omitting the additional unknown level of counterfeits, these results provide a lower bound on fraudulent pesticide volumes in Mali The survey results suggest that illegal, unregistered pesticides account for about 26% of all pesticide volumes sold in Mali. Of these roughly 5% come from Ghana, 2% from Côte d’Ivoire and the remaining 19% are not registered anywhere. Mali’s designated regulator, the Comité Sahélien des Pesticides (CSP), authorizes pesticides for sale based on their efficacy and safety. The high level of unauthorized pesticides currently on sale in Mali results in frequent complaints from farmers as well as potential danger to human health and the environment. Improved post-registration monitoring and enforcement will be critical to ensuring quality inputs for farmers as well as safety for farmers and consumers.