By Valentine Oforo
THE Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI) plans to execute a timely –robust program to impart more than 500 farmers with needed awareness on quality seeds, being in efforts to spur productivity into the country’s agriculture sector.
Together with that, the initiative also focuses to ensure food sufficiency in the country as well as a surplus for exports hence boosting national income.
TOSCI’s Quality Assurance (seeds) Officer, Mr Maulid Mwakatobe informed that the envisaged training will help farmers verify their inputs, including seeds, contain the use of counterfeit seeds, thus enabling them to obtain inputs on time.
“The training is expected to assist the farmers to know how professional to verify seeds, but also to have the capacity to train others, the application of the skills will also help them produce productive products which are of healthy,” he said.
According to him, using mobile phone, whether it is a smartphone or a feature phone, farmers can verify the seed package purchased, and get sufficient instructions that can help them a great deal in their farming activities.
“We obtain sufficient information, indicating the date on which the seeds were produced and the expiry date, among other essential details that enable farmers to make informed choices,” he pointed out.
On his side, TOSCI Officer in Charge of Lake Zone, Mr Martin Msongoma expressed that the workshops will be of benefit because they teach farmers to check the veracity of the seeds they purchase before using them.
“TOSCI works with other stakeholders to educate farmers to verify the seeds they want to grow. This will bring benefits to the agricultural sector by eliminating the use of fake seeds,” he said.
And he added that the training was a key opportunity for the farmers to use the education that they will get as a chance to teach as well as sell the seeds to other people who need quality seeds.
Elaborating, he lauded the Minister for Agriculture, Hussein Bashe, for ensuring that women and young people engage in agriculture as a business and recognize the importance of having quality seeds for improving the sector.
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