‘Absence of seed guidelines derailing agricultural devt’

A farmer takes seeds for sowing. According to government, a seed strategy is expected to be endorsed in 30 days. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

The country is deficient of improved seeds, a reason why farmers are vulnerable to fake seeds.
According to the Commissioner for crop inspection and certification at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Robert Karyeija, of the 30,000 million metric tonnes of improved seeds needed annually, only 10,000 are made available or produced

Kampala.

Lack of seed guidelines on how marketable farming should be approached is compromising government’s efforts to commercialise agriculture, industry players have noted.

According to a cross section of farmers, non-governmental organisations involved in agriculture and legislators overseeing the sector, the absence of guidelines renders the Shs20 million target for a farmer to earn through commercial farming, untenable.

“The agricultural strategy is important in paving direction and guiding policy,” the chairperson of the parliamentary committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Mr Mathias Kasamba, said last week in a sideline interview of a seed event at Lugogo, Kampala.

He continued: “Without the strategies players involved in the industry or the value chain are in disarray. All I want to know from the ministry now is when are they having the strategy in place?”

Mr Kasamba, also an ardent farmer, said with a strategy in place, the costs of seeds, quality and regulation will be taken care of, given that the strategy defines clearly how to go about such situations.

A linking and learning facilitator for Agro Pro Focus, a networking forum for stakeholders in agriculture value chain, Mr Richard Mugisha, said in an interview that for the seed strategy to be relevant, voices of sector players, such as farmers, seed companies and traders among other stakeholders must be encompassed in the guidelines.

He also contested an earlier claim that the seed policy has been approved, saying it is still in the draft form.

Commissioner for crop inspection and certification at the Ministry of Agriculture, Robert Karyeija told the Daily Monitor last week that in 30 days, the strategy would have been endorsed and signed for use by the minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry.

He said: “The seed strategy has already been drafted and the consultation phase is what is left before the minister signs it for use. Within one month, this should all be done.”
He added: “Seed strategy tells us how to implement policy and it operationalises the related laws. Without it people speculate. This means that harmonising production will be a challenge, among other things.

addressing the shortage of seeds

The country is deficient of improved seeds, a reason why farmers are vulnerable to fake seeds.
According to the Commissioner for crop inspection and certification at the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Robert Karyeija, of the 30,000 million metric tonnes of improved seeds needed annually, only 10,000 are made available or produced.

To address this shortage, Mr Karyeija said his ministry is intensifying research with a view to produce not just better quality seeds but also multiply the seeds yield.

The army, police and even prison will have gazetted land to help produce and multiply the seeds which will be made available to the farmers.

Traditional seeds, which make up to about 70 per cent of the seeds in the country, will be kept in a bank just in case the improved seeds turn out to be a disaster.