ZIMBABWEAN businesses say counterfeit products have become a malignant “cancer” nibbling away at their operations and inflicting significant damage on their financial health, brand reputation and customer trust.
The problem of counterfeit products has become an issue of concern in Zimbabwe, affecting various key sectors and posing health and economic risks.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the 2025 Annual Consumer Conference in Bulawayo, SeedCo regional agronomist for Matabeleland, Mr Wallace Banda, said seed companies also facing challenges posed by counterfeits.
“They are giving us a big challenge and when they come to the market, they will be cheaper than the certified seeds, so farmers end up falling for these cheap products, unaware that they are counterfeits.
“These then affect their yields, while we are also losing a lot of sales. Some of these counterfeit seeds are being put in packages almost similar to ours and farmers pick them up unaware that they are counterfeits,” he said.
He said counterfeit seeds lead to low yields, financial losses for farmers and threaten national food security.
Mr Banda called for increased enforcement and public awareness campaigns to address the challenge of counterfeit seeds.
Eversharp regional sales manager, Mr Julian Mbono, said that as a division of listed Amalgamated Regional Trading (ART) Holdings, they have been around since 1972 and are also battling counterfeits.
“We are a Zimbabwean brand… doing exports into the SADC region; to countries like Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana and South Africa, among others.
“We produce pens, pencils, rulers, among other writing instruments. We are the only pen manufacturing company in Zimbabwe, but we have witnessed other products similar to ours that are coming in at a very low price, which is a quarter of ours,” he said.
“These are not only in Zimbabwe, but you will find them across the region, affecting our exports. Counterfeit products are found in places where we would not even have done marketing there.”
He said this had a huge negative impact on operations through revenue losses and erosion of customer trust.
Mr Mbono said customers are complaining about the performance of the counterfeit pens, with some saying the products are substandard.
