admin
Bulawayo Bureau
SEED houses have started distributing seed to all parts of the country ahead of the 2013/14 farming season, with warnings that there was fake seed in circulation.Speaking in separate interviews on Tuesday, representatives from the main seed houses, Seed-Co and Pioneer Seeds said their companies were busy distributing seed to all districts through their retail systems.
The Seed-Co extension services manager Mr Ivan Craig said the seed house had adequate seed for all the districts in the country.
He warned farmers against unscrupulous people who sell fake seed, saying they must be on the lookout for the security features of the seed bags.
The fake seed reportedly fails to germinate.
“Farmers must be on the lookout for such people and always observe our security features on the packs. The sealing has improved and the bags are printed in black dots with pictures of different animals printed on them, while the seed maize is coated in a consistent colour.
“It should not be difficult for farmers to identify imitations because they usually have inconsistent colours of grain sealed in a different way,” said Mr Craig. “We have distributed seed to all districts in the country through our retail system. We have different varieties of seed suitable for all regions in the country and we will make sure that every farmer gets seed from their nearest dealer.”
Online Reporter