Farmers beware: Planting uncertified seeds is the cause of poor crop harvest

I refer to John Mbaria’s article, “It’s illegal to plant any other seeds but those produced by multinationals” that appeared in Wednesday Nation’s opinion columns.

He signed off with a scary comment: “Our grandmothers will be hurled into prison for simply keeping part of their produce to replant in the coming season.”

The article seeks to trash the efforts ploughed into research, production and distribution of good planting materials to farmers. It magnifies ignorance of the second Agrarian Revolution brought about by the hybrid seed since the 1930s.

A general survey of agro-economics will show that counties that have a high adoption of certified seeds have higher yields per unit.

VAGARIES OF WEATHER

Farmers who cannot access certified seeds are prone to crop failures resulting from diseases and vulnerability to the vagaries of weather.

In developed countries, production of maize, for instance, averages seven metric tonnes (7MT) per hectare compared to Kenya that is still at 2MT. And most of the certified seeds in Kenya are developed by local companies; the multinationals Mr Mbaria referred to supply less than 10 per cent.

It’s a fallacy to compare or even worse, confuse hybrid seeds with genetically modified materials. Hybrid seeds are developed by conventional means — mechanically crossing two or more distinct, say, crops, to achieve certain superior attributes. The traits are many and include high yields, disease resistance and drought tolerance.

What the writer referred to as “Grandmother’s” seeds are actually stored materials not worth being called seeds. They are susceptible to pest and disease attacks, are drought intolerant, lack vigour and produce poor yields.

“Sharing” the seeds is synonymous to passing over diseases such as smut, MLND, bacteria wilt and obnoxious weeds. This is because there is no mechanism to control these infamies at farmer level.

Seed, being a living material, degenerates and disintegrates after planting. Subsequent materials from commercial fields lack the potential inherent in hybrid seeds.

Writing from an activist’s perspective, Mr Mbaria opines that the Crop and Seeds Act criminalises farming. Not at all. The law sets to streamline trade in certified seeds and shields farmers from dealers in fake seeds.

Registration to carry out business is a mark of civilisation. It shows one is open to supervision, scrutiny and competition.

Mr Mbaria may have an axe to grind with GMOs, but surely he needs to engage intellectually, complete with figures and facts about their adverse health effects.

Stretching fears to obfuscate crucial inventions and besmirch research is dragging our nascent agriculture to the Bronze Age.

MIKE KIBEBE, Nairobi