Farmers cautioned against fake seeds

Civil Society Agriculture Network (Cisanet) executive director Lilian Saka has cautioned farmers in Mchinji District against using counterfeit seeds.

She said this on Tuesday during a sensitisation meeting with the Mchinji Seed Monitoring Committee comprising representatives of the Judiciary, police and civil society organisations.

Saka said the influx of fake seeds on the market is a setback to agriculture commercialisation efforts in the country as the farmers get low yielding varieties.

“Farmers must ensure that they scratch cards from seed packages and destroy the packets completely after unpacking the seeds to prevent unscrupulous traders from reusing the materials to package fake seeds,” she said.

Saka encouraged the Seed Monitoring Committee to sensitise farmers on how to detect fake seeds to ensure sanity in the seed industry.

Mchinji Seed Monitoring Committee chairperson Aubrey Chidziwitsano said they have since trained agro-dealers on how they can detect fake seeds.

“We conducted the exercise in trading centres in the district where we observed that most shops are selling fake seed unknowingly.

“We also observed that there is poor packaging, where seed-sellers mix seeds with chemicals.”

In random interviews, farmers in the district expressed happiness with the seed monitoring exercise.

Yakobe Jonathan from Traditional Authority (T/A) Mavwere asked the police to monitor shops and markets to ensure traders are not selling fake seeds.

“It is in the interest of farmers to use genuine seed that will lead to bumper yields,” he said.

Another farmer Mussa John from T/A Zulu said he will follow the Cisanet tips.

Cisanet is working with seed monitoring committees from Mchinji, Chitipa, Chikwawa, Kasungu, Mzimba, Dedza and Salima districts.

The agriculture network has also partnered with Farm Radio Trust to create awareness through lead farmers as well as radio messages on fake seed.