- Kenya Seed head of sales and marketing Sammy Chepsiror said the company had released 40 maize varieties that are tolerant to drought , disease and striga weeds.
- He said more focus had been directed to research and innovations to produce fast maturing and drought resistant products for various agro ecological zones.
Image: FILE
The Kenya Seed Company and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service have scaled up research activities of drought resistant crops to help farmers overcome challenges posed by climate change.
Kenya Seed head of sales and marketing Sammy Chepsiror said the company had released 40 maize varieties tolerant to drought, disease and striga weeds.
He said more focus had been directed to research and innovations to produce fast maturing and drought resistant products for various agro-ecological zones in the country.
Speaking during a media luncheon in Kitale Thursday, Chepsiror who was representing Kenya Seed managing director Fredrick Oloibe said the maize varieties that had undergone five to six years in trials with better yielding capacity than the indigenous ones, had already been released to the market.
He said many farmers in the region will be able to produce more despite the erratic climatic conditions.
"We are looking at faster maturing, more tolerant and disease resistant crop varieties which can be able to yield about 30 bags of maize in one acre than the indigenous types of crops which yield to 15 or so bags per acre."
Some of varieties that Kenya Seed company has released include H528 (Ua Kayongo) and H530 and H531 (Ua Kayongo).
He said the new developed varieties will greatly help combat Striga weed menace in Nyanza and Western regions.
Other maize seed varieties include KSDV01 and WE1101 which are suitable for arid and semi-arid areas and for water insufficient areas and those prone to drought.
These varieties have rough leaf surface which enable them to regulate the amount of water lost through transpiration. They are also shorter in height making them require less amount of water to sustain their growth.
“Our target is to overcome climate change and these variety of maize can do well in dry areas which receive limited amount of rainfall in a year,” Chepsiror said.
Raising an alarm over massive land sub-divisions in the country, Chepsiror said the company has expanded it's activities to Tanzania due to enough land.
"We have scaled up irrigation farming to produce enough seed and also seeking more land from neighbouring countries such as Tanzania."
He however asked Kenyans to shun unnecessary land subdivisions to protect agriculture.
The Kenya Health Inspectorate Kephis regional manager Ephraim Wachira said the government was concerned about those selling non-certified seed which poses danger to agricultural growth.
He hailed the media practitioners in the region for the partnership with government agencies through flagging and reporting cases of selling fake seed.
"We wish to thank you members of the fourth estate for the partnership which has helped to bolster the fight against fake seeds. We will eventually win this battle to make this country attain agenda four, SDG and MDG,’’ he said.
He asked farmers to buy seeds from registered stockists and use a unique code on the packets to verify their authenticity.
"Farmers should be able to buy certified seeds from the companies that are registered and should be able to scratch the Kephis logo on the packet to find a number that establishes the variety, producer, batch and lifespan of the product,’’ he added.
“Also, if the seeds fail to germinate or have poor germination rates, they should report to us. Through this method we have beaten the fake seeds and are working to eliminate them,” he said.
He added that Kephis had strengthened its supervisory role to ensure all seed manufacturing companies comply with the laid down rules to avoid compromising food security.
The official urged farmers to embrace greenhouse farming to reduce pests and diseases that pose menace to food security and increase production cost by requiring use of more spray chemicals
Kenya Seed senior corporate communications officer Jane Gitau challenged journalists to step up the fight against counterfeits which she noted threatened to erode productivity of maize and other cereals.
"Through your reporting on fake seed, this country will be able to put to an end to manufacturing and sale of fake seeds that are harmful to your health if consumed.’’
Gitau said the reality of climate change had resulted in delayed and below average rainfall and higher than normal temperatures.