据估计，假冒产品占据了全球农药市场的 5% 至 10%，即约 $40 亿。
“The incidence of global counterfeiting and illegal traffic in plant protection products has been growing substantially over the past years, especially with the increase in generic manufacturing capability, computerized manufacturing processes, computerized graphics for labeling and the relaxation in global and regional trade laws,” says Utz Klages, 拜耳作物科学 作物保护和环境科学发言人。
使用含有劣质或非法活性物质的假冒和其他非法作物保护产品的农民不仅会因为潜在的健康和损害作物的风险而影响他们自己，还会影响环境和消费者的健康。此外，假冒行为的增加反过来又导致有组织犯罪的增长，因为现行法律缺乏执法和加强尚未得到解决。
定义假冒
界定假冒行为及其所违反的确切法律是打击非法农药贸易的第一步。代表国际仿制药公司的 AgroCare 总裁 Roman Macaya 博士表示，虽然农药行业反对这种做法，但跨国公司和仿制药公司之间存在意见分歧。
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“Multinational companies have been very aggressive in promoting anti-counterfeiting enforcement measures,” he says. “These will have support from the generic industry as long as the definition of counterfeiting is properly defined and not used as a weapon of abuse.”
存在的问题是专利侵权是否属于假冒的定义，以及当公司和世界各地存在不同问题时如何正确执行现行的假冒法律。
《反假冒贸易协定》规定了国际知识产权。因此，专利侵权通常由民事法院处理，包括 ACTA 中假冒定义中的行为。因此，让个人受到刑事指控是不合适的。
“As with most legal issues, there should not be a “one-size-fits-all” enforcement strategy,” Macaya says. “No serious organization is going to be for counterfeiting. Likewise, no serious organization should try to create confusion as to what is counterfeiting in order to broaden the scope of enforcement actions to other areas that do not fall under the definition of counterfeiting.”
例如，发展中国家和发达国家有不同的需求。 Macaya 说，在这些国家/地区处理假冒产品的不同策略对于有效减缓假冒农药的使用至关重要。
立法
欧洲作物保护协会传播部高级经理菲尔·牛顿表示，俄罗斯和乌克兰等东欧国家据称是非法农药贸易的最大贡献者之一（ECPA).
Once a shipment of counterfeit products crosses the border, they are shipped to countries where European organized criminals label them inappropriately and initiate the selling process. Approximately $435 million of Europe’s pesticide industry is lost to counterfeiting each year, and little is being done on the legislative side to combat the problem, he says.
“They haven’t figured out a bracket of the law that adequately addresses the shipping of chemicals,” Newton says. “There could be a situation where something can be seized by customs if it has a phony brand name attached to it.”
但是，带有标签的农药瓶通常与桶内物品分开运输。欧洲海关只能没收带有标签的瓶子。因此，装有产品的桶能够通过并且通常被标记为肥皂或乳化剂而不是它们的实际内容。
“Shipping does not require very stringent regulations,” he says. “Most do not come in labeled or shopped as pesticides. It is very common for accidents and spillage to occur when these products are shipped in containers other than what they are.”
在货物进入预定国家之前停止运输是终结假冒农药的最关键步骤之一。然而，牛顿说，由于大多数法律都针对知识产权和品牌，航运仍然是立法环境中一个严重薄弱的领域。
农民教育
阻止假冒农药贸易的最有效方法之一是农民教育。由于农民是假冒产品的最终用户，因此教育他们从值得信赖的农药经销商处购买以及使用假冒产品的潜在不利影响对于减缓非法农药贸易至关重要。牛顿说，农民可能不知道他们购买的瓶子可能对人类健康和农作物构成威胁。
假冒农药生产过程中缺乏质量控制是最大的问题。使用假冒农药的潜在后果包括农作物减产、法律后果以及使用该产品的农民失去信誉。
“There is enough fear about the use of pesticides and the reputation of the product,” says Newton. “The anti-counterfeiting situation accentuates those fears because it could essentially destroy the reputation of farmers. The only way advanced tech applications can be trusted by the consumer is if the farmer appears accountable, professional and responsible.”
Not only could counterfeit products destroy farmers’ reputations, crop loss is a significant risk because of mislabeled products and incorrect formulations. In Nigeria, farmers have been urged to stop using fake products after illegal pesticides compromised cocoa yields in 2010.
“It takes a farmer to buy the stuff,” says Newton. “Many may not know it’s counterfeit, and training farmers to avoid illegal products by showing the risks and how to avoid risks is important.”