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Agriculture Reporter
THE Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Ministry has requested the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to help enforce compliance to the specifications of the Seed Act (Chapter19:13) by agro-dealers and introduce spot checks to flush out bogus dealers selling fake seed.
In a letter dated September 5, 2022 and addressed to the Commissioner General of the Police Godwin Matanga, the Ministry’s permanent secretary Dr John Basera said: “In order to eradicate bogus seed sellers selling counterfeit agro-inputs to farmers, Seed Services Institute under the Department of Research and Specialist Services of the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development will be carrying out spot checks on various agro-dealer premises to monitor compliance to the specifications of the Seed Act (Chapter 19:13) and its supporting statutory instruments. This will be a 10 weeks’ operation covering the peak selling season for agro-inputs, starting from October 3 to December 16, 2022.”
Dr Basera further explained that Section 8 of the Seed Act (Chapter 19:13) stipulated that “no person shall sell seed unless registered as a seed seller.” The registration of seed sellers allows the Ministry to assess the agro-dealer’s capacity in handling and safe storage of certified seed while at the same time preventing the distribution of counterfeit seed.
“The Ministry is kindly requesting support from the Zimbabwe Republic Police whenever the inspectors face enforcement challenges when carrying out compliance spot checks in various cities, towns and business centres across the country,” appealed Dr Basera.
As preparations for the 2022/23 cropping season gather momentum, chances are very high bogus dealers can take advantage of the pressure to smuggle in fake products that will result in farmers suffering huge losses because of poor germination or poor product performance.
Many farmers have in recent seasons fallen prey to fraudsters selling taking advantage of difficult economic times to sell counterfeit agricultural products that include even chemicals. They have in some cases gone to the extent of painting ordinary maize grains to imitate hybrid seeds distributed by registered companies and seed manufacturing companies.
This has left the farmers poorer as most of these seeds fail to germinate with some of the paint and concoctions used to imitate original seeds containing elements that cause decay. Home-saved seed is at times even better than this fake seed.
The fraudsters usually offer prices lower than those in conventional outlets, which entices desperate farmers. It is always necessary for farmers to buy only those seeds authenticated by the Standard Association of Zimbabwe or direct from suppliers or registered retail outlets
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