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Crop Safety for Human Health

Situation Overview

Romyr & Associates was approached by the Agrochemical Committee of the European Business Association (EBA) to orchestrate a comprehensive effort to combat and eliminate counterfeit, contraband, and illegally repackaged crop protection products in the Ukrainian market. Black market products are estimated to account for 20% of domestic crop protection products, 50% of which is at the retail level.

This situation threatens not only the income and reputation of bona fide manufacturers, it could also pose great harm to the health of consumers who unsuspectingly purchase the affected yield.  Beyond that, the country's coffers suffer a reduction of UAH 20 - 30 million which should be accrued from the tax on revenue from legal manufactures and their distributors.

Organizations responsible for monitoring the use of pesticide and related products have been hampered in their efforts by a lack of cohesion and information. They faced a serious problem but had few credible facts on the extent of the abuse, the methods of fraud, the tactics and strategies likely to expose and remedy the situation, nor the resources available for mobilization in the fight to expose the culprits. 

Strategy

Romyr & Associates developed a strategy targeted to reach consumers and distributors and designed to raise awareness of the problem and offer advice on how to address it. The campaign educated the target audience on recognizing fake product and reporting it to state authorities to aid in a timely pursuit of black marketers.

Working with the EBA's Agrochemical Committee, Romyr rallied government and public agencies with its campaign entitled "Crop Safety for Human Health." The project was launched at a March 12, 2003 press conference attended by the director of Ukraine's Crop Protection Inspection agency, several interested manufactures and distributors, and members of the media.

The purpose of "Crop Safety for Human Health" was to inform citizens throughout Ukraine on the issue, but with special focus in those regions where the scope of the problem was particularly serious: Vinnytsya, Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa. Romyr organized five seminars for agrochemical distributors and five roundtables for business and legal professionals. Attendees included representatives from the spectrum of involved parties:  crop protection stations, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ministry for Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Internal Affairs' agency to Combat Economic Crimes, regional customs representatives, the State Tax Administration, the State Security Service, as well as manufacturers, distributors, and journalists.  All aspects surrounding the issue of fake agrochemical product were addressed including ways to combat the problem.   In particular, distributors had an opportunity to network and exchange information with local authorities and consider joint efforts to fight the counterfeiting.

In the course of project implementation, the Romyr team circulated informational brochures not just to those at the seminars but also among consumers, state authorities, and distributors across the country.  Romyr distributed material at AgriKhort and Agro 2003, exhibitions guaranteed to attract large numbers of people in the target audience.

Still another front in the assault was opened in April 2003 when a toll-free hotline began operations giving consumers the opportunity to learn about anti-counterfeit activities. Open through November, the hotline also gave advice on how to recognize fakes.

At a wrap-up press conference in June 2003, representatives of three public sectors, commercial, state, and social, summarized the achievements of "Crop Safety for Human Health," concluding with a set of tasks for the future.

Results

Working on a compressed timeline, the "Crop Safety for Human Health" project was tasked with informing consumers and distributors on the problem of counterfeit crop protection products and the scale of that problem including the potential risks of usage.  It was further tasked to speed up anti-counterfeit activity on the part of legislatures, business executives, and law enforcement. The campaign achieved its objectives.

Seminars and roundtables served not only as the forum for making consumers and distributors aware of the problem and risks of counterfeit product, but also as a vehicle to provide a means for representatives of state agencies to enlist and organize the cooperation of affected parties.  Furthermore, they were an attractive event for regional and state media outlets which then broadcast related stories via television, radio, print and electronic outlets thus disseminating the campaign even further into the public consciousness. The hotline, too, became a key source of information for consumers, journalists, and distributors. Finally, a crowning achievement was integrating efforts on the part of Ukraine's commercial, state, and public sectors in a united mobilization to destroy the market for counterfeit crop protection products.

Having received positive feedback from all sides, the project laid the groundwork for further efforts to eliminate counterfeit agrochemical products and to improve the health of that market overall. Clearly, those involved recognized the timeliness and efficacy of "Crop Safety for Human Health" and expect its spirit to continue.