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Fake Seeds Blamed for Low Maize Production
- Details
- Published on Friday, 20 July 2007 07:00
The planting of fake seeds, especially H614, adversely affected production, the district's Agriculture office has said.
The Agriculture and Livestock officer, Mr C. Muyesu, said poor surveillance and weak policy enforcement by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (Kephis) were the cause of the decline.
In a report on last year's crop performance, the official says the target of 42 bags of maize per hectare could not be achieved due to poor use of fertiliser and low quality seed.
Mr Muyesu adds that the sale of the H614 seed was widespread during the short rains.
Police impounded eight tonnes of fake maize seed packed in 4,000 packets of two kilogrammes each before they were sold.
In addition, the official cites the stalk borer, porcupines and striga weed as other causes of low production.
The district harvested 539,000 bags in the period under review.
Addressing this year's Southern Kenya agricultural show at Gusii Stadium, Agriculture minister Bonaya Godana told Kephis to crack down on manufacturers of and dealers in fake farm inputs, adding that extension officers should educate farmers on how to detect them.
