Scientists at the national research organisation have developed a new technology that seeks to cut down the cost of seed production.
Dr Eliud Kireger, director general, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation said quality seed is critical for food security. He noted that access to affordable quality seeds is a big challenge to farmers.
“This is because the cost of breeding or producing seeds is expensive. The process of producing hybrid seeds is tedious. In a row of five, you need to detassel four rows to be able to get the hybrid seed,” Kireger said.
He spoke to the media during a field visit to a demonstration farm in KALRO-Kitale.
The DG noted that detasseling is labour intensive hence expensive. It costs about Sh40,000 to detassel one acre hence making seeds expensive for farmers to afford.
“Detasseling is a labour intensive, complex and time consuming process which, if not done well, can lead to self-pollination. This can contaminate the hybrid product and reduce the final yield potential of commercial certified seed,” Kireger said.
Detasseling involves removing the tassel at the very top of the maize plant either by hand or mechanically to prevent unwanted pollination. This is a process used by seed companies to produce high-quality seeds for farmers.
Currently, seed producers and companies in Africa, including Kenya, prevent, self-fertilisation by manual detasseling. This is a time-sensitive process, which involves removing the pollen-producing tassels from the seed-bearing maize plants.
The technology has been developed by KALRO in partnership with Corteva Agriscience, the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa, Qualibasic Seed and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
Kireger said the technology seeks to ensure the cost of production of hybrid seeds is reduced so that farmers can be able to afford it.
“This will also ensure that small scale seed companies can now be able to afford to produce seeds. This will eventually make the price of seeds go down for farmers,” he added.
Seed companies globally prioritise traits that increase yields and improve tolerance to climate and weather risks through maize breeding and hybrid seed production.
Studies have shown that farmers prefer hybrids over comparable open pollinated varieties because they perform better.
In Kenya, maize seed production is set to be revolutionised following seven -year research on a new technology that delivers high-quality hybrid seed with improved yields while lowering the cost of goods and complexity of producing the seed.
Boniface Awalla, a senior research scientist at KALRO-Kitale said the technology utilises a naturally occurring maize gene called Ms44 that eliminates the need for detasseling during both steps of three-way hybrid maize seed production.
The non-pollen producing inbred seed developed with the Seed Production Technology for Africa technology can be used to produce commercial seed of hybrid varieties containing equal parts of pollen producing and non-pollen producing plants.
“During the seed production process, nonpollen producing female parent plants are sown alongside an elite male parent line that produces pollen. Cross-pollination between the female and male parents is therefore more reliable and cost-effective, eliminating any self-pollination and improving the purity of hybrid seed products,” he said.
Awalla added that in this process, the SPTA inbred line is used as a seed parent to create single cross non-pollen producing female seed during the production of basic seed.
“With the SPTA system, the full seed yield potential of the production female line or single cross can be realised,” he said.
The research was undertaken at KALRO research centres of Kiboko, Embu, Kakamega and Kitale and on-farm trials with farmers in Embu, Kirinyaga, Kakamega, Busia and Bungoma.
Kireger pointed out that following confirmatory National Performance Trials (NPT) in 2022 by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), three FNP hybrids (CHKM21W002, CHKM21W003 and CHKE21W001) which are adapted to low soil fertility conditions have been recommended for release.
In addition, two other FNP hybrids (CHKM21W001 and CKDHH15008FNP) are in the second year of testing in the National Performance Trials.
