adminCommunal farmers have been urged to be wary of fake seed dealers who are on the prowl amid appeals for Government to amend the Seed Act (1971) to allow companies to arrest culprits. The call comes in the wake of reports that some criminals were selling fake maize seed to unsuspecting rural farmers under the guise that the seed was produced by leading producers.
Addressing farmers during a field day held at Mr Tadious Chingwe’s farm in Village 7 Gutu, DuPont Pioneer country agronomist Mr Jason Muradzikwa warned rural farmers to be on the lookout of fake seed from bogus agents. Mr Muradzikwa said cases of dubious agents of seed houses selling fake products were rampant.
“Be wary of fake seed dealers who are acting as Pioneer or Pannar agents in the market,” he said.
“We have had many cases involving these criminals in Harare and we urge farmers to know the exact type of seed they want. Some of these criminals have even managed to access our packaging and we call upon farmers to be very discerning to make sure what is written on the packaging tallies with the contents.” Pannar agronomist Mr Ngoni Rufu urged farmers to combine manure and fertiliser to improve seed production adding that no research has been conducted to determine if manure has enough nutrients for seed development throughout the season. — Herald Reporter.
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