Check a product before you buy
The most important thing SoftFarm does. Ten seconds at the agrovet counter, before you spend any money.
Do this before you pay, standing at the counter. If the answer is bad, you put the container back and buy something else. If you check after you have sprayed, there is nothing left to decide.
Three ways to check
Use whichever is easiest where you are standing. They all give you the same answer.
1. Photograph the label
- Open Compliance › Input check in the farm app.
- Tap the camera and photograph the container.
- Get the ingredients part of the label in the picture — that is the small print listing the chemicals, not the big brand name.
- Hold steady, get close, avoid shadow and glare.
- Choose the crop you plan to spray, if it asks.
- Read the result. See Understanding your result.
2. Type the ingredients
If the photo will not work — the label is torn, faded, or the light is bad — type the ingredients in by hand instead. Copy the chemical names exactly as printed. This always works, and it is just as accurate.
3. Type the product name
If you do not have the container with you, type the product name and its PCPB registration number (printed on every legally sold product in Kenya). SoftFarm will look up what is in it.
What it is actually checking
It is not judging whether the product works, or whether it is legal in Kenya. It is answering one question:
If I spray this and send the produce to Europe, will it be rejected?
To answer that it looks at the active ingredients — the actual chemicals in the product, not the brand name. The same chemical is sold under many different brand names, and a brand you have used for years can quietly change what is in it.
Two containers on the same shelf, different brands, can hold the same banned chemical. And the same brand can be reformulated between seasons. Checking the ingredients is the only reliable way.
If you grow organic
Turn on the organic option before you check. Organic certification has its own list of what is permitted, and it is stricter than the ordinary rules. A product can be perfectly fine for conventional export and still lose you your organic certificate.
Getting a good photo
| Do | Avoid |
|---|---|
| Fill the frame with the ingredients text | Photographing the whole container from far away |
| Shade the label with your body in bright sun | Direct glare on shiny or plastic labels |
| Flatten a curled or wrapped label | Text curving away around the bottle |
| Wipe off dust or chemical residue first | A label smeared or partly worn away |
If it still cannot read the label, it will tell you so and ask you to type the ingredients instead. That is not a failure — it is the app refusing to guess about something this important.
The check becomes part of your record
When you record a spray afterwards, the product carries its result with it. That means your spray diary does not just say what you sprayed — it shows that you checked it first, and what the answer was.
An inspector asking “how do you know this was safe?” is answered by the record itself.