Govt’s pledge on availability of seeds

Arusha. The government has pledged to ensure that private dealers have greater access to varieties of quality seeds.

The move is aimed at enabling seed traders from the private sector supplied with improved varieties directly from the agricultural research centres unlike in the past.

“Our intention to reduce bureaucracy faced by private dealers and farmers in their endeavour to get seeds from the Agricultural Seed Agency (Asa),” the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Development, William ole Nasha, said. The move would also boost the production of improved seed varieties by the private growers and its supply to the local market.

Speaking during the commissioning of new offices in Arusha of the multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto, the deputy minister defended the recent legislation which required that all seeds supplied to the market must bear appropriate labels.

However, he decried that many smallholder farmers in the country have not been adequately sensitised on the importance of planting the improved seed varieties and called on private players such as Monsanto to join the government in educating the farmers.

“We are focused on more private sector involvement through the public private partnership (PPP),” Mr Ole Nasha said when he graced the opening of the company’s office at Themi-Njiro industrial area.

According to him, the country’s demand for improved seed varieties was 212,000 tonnes, a far cry from the current supply of only 36,000 tonnes, of which 21,000 tonnes are produced locally and 15,000 tonnes imported.

However, during 2015/2016, production dropped to 15,000 tonnes from 21,000 tonnes produced locally. During 2016/2017 nevertheless, production is expected to rise to about 40,000 tonnes.

The director of Monsanto in Africa, Dr Shukla Gyanendra, said the company will continue to support Tanzania to produce and market high quality seeds that can help the farmers realize high yields.

“In Tanzania, we are best known for our leading brands namely Dekalb. We are also well known for our vegetable for our vegetable seeds such as tomatoes, onions and cabbages sold under our Seminis and Round-up brands,” he said.

Dr Gyanendra added: “We will continue to roll out a pipeline of new and improved varieties to ensure that our farmers get superior value and return on their effort,” he pointed out, noting that efforts fall in line with the government’s drive to ensue food security for its people.