The Kenya Seed Company (KSC) has assured maize farmers across the country of adequate supply of seeds as they continue preparing their farms for the planting season.
Speaking during a seed distribution stakeholders meeting that brought together agents and stockists from Trans-Nzoia and Bungoma counties, KSC Managing Director Fred Oloibe said the company has produced enough seeds for both local consumption as well as foreign markets including those in the neighbouring countries of Uganda and Tanzania.
“We are soon going to start planting our seeds in this region starting March through April and as we can see this year’s rains are almost certain unlike the previous years. I am calling on our farmers to prepare their farms in readiness for this planting season,” said Oloibe.
The MD said as an organization they celebrate all seed distributors, agents and the stockists in the country, hence the need to reward them by coming together to share ideas, train them to be better distributors and handlers of the seeds and also handle farmers better whenever they visit their shops for the seeds.
“We have sufficient quantities of seeds for all the grow zones in the highlands. We have sufficient stocks of Hybrid 6213,614,629 for our farmers this year and also DH 04 for the dry areas like West Pokot,” Oloibe said.
The MD said that part of training for their seed distributors include highlighting and making them aware of the issue of fake seeds in the country.
The company is working closely with the seed regulator (KEPHIS) through its packaging, especially for the two kilo package, where there is a card that one needs to scratch and send a number to confirm the authenticity of the seed.
“We are also urging farmers to practically use our security feature by ensuring that they send the details or check on the labels for assurance that you are planting the right and quality seeds,” said Oloibe.
The MD added that the company is doing more research and very soon they will be releasing a new variety of seeds that will be tolerant to low rainfall and also give farmers high yields despite the constant climatic changes.
“I urge farmers countrywide to prepare their farms for early planting because research has shown that such crops especially maize will grow faster because of the nitrogen nutrients in the soil and will not be vulnerable to diseases and attacks from pests like the fall army worms,” added Oloibei.