Be on the lookout for brokers and fake seeds, Linturi advices farmers

The government has put on notice unscrupulous traders and agrovets  involved in selling fake seeds and substandard farm inputs.

Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi the ministry is keen on cracking a racket of cartels involved in duping farmers through uncertified seeds and farm inputs.

He warned that distribution of counterfeit seeds to farmers will derail government’s efforts to increase food production, noting that agrovets found selling fake seeds will be closed.

“The government is putting a lot of effort in supporting farmers to produce more food. Any attempts to derail that plan will be met with full force of the law,” the CS said while launching two mobile grain dryers, subsidised certified maize and sunflower seeds and fertilisers at Voi, Taita Taveta county on Tuesday.

He said the ministry has managed to revoke the licenses of some agrovets and seed sellers who were caught selling counterfeit seeds in the ongoing crackdown.

He further cautioned middlemen and brokers in the macadamia value chain, whom he said, were involved in extorting farmers.

Linturi advised farmers in the county to desist from engaging unscrupulous middlemen and avoid selling their macadamia nuts at throw away prices.

“The ministry will invoke Section 2 of the Crops Act, where no dealer will be allowed to buy the nuts at a cost of less than Sh100. This is among the interventions we are putting in place to cushion farmers from extortion,” he said.

Majority of macadamia farmers in Taita Taveta county have been selling raw nuts at Sh30 per kilo.

The region is a leading producer of macadamia nuts with an estimated 21,000 farmers producing the nuts.

Taita Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime lauded the government for the timely intervention to control the buying price of the nuts for maximum benefit of farmers.

Mwadime asked the national government to link macadamia farmers with the market, saying brokers exploit them and deny them bonuses.

The county boss encouraged more farmers to embrace macadamia farming saying it is fast becoming the county’s top cash crop.

Mwadime further reiterated his commitment to working closely with the national government in quest to improve food production in the county.

“My administration underscores the importance of working with the national government and other development partners with the sole aim of improving livelihoods and attaining food security,” Mwadime said.

Taveta legislator John Bwire termed the new mobile maize dryer a game changer for hundreds of farmers in the county.

“The maize drier has the capacity of drying 14 tonnes of maize in one hour. For the maize traders in Taveta, this is a game changer,” the legislator said.

In addition to the drier, he said, Taveta will also receive 16 metric tonnes of subsidised fertiliser and 12 metric tonnes of sunflower seeds.

The CS has also instructed the construction of a new National Cereals and Produce Board warehouse in Taveta town, which will act like a one-stop shop with both fertilisers, drier, seeds, and other services.

He said the machine will help reduce post-harvest losses thus increasing production and income.