30 people arrested in counterfeit seeds crackdown
At least 30 people have been arrested in the last month in connection with the sale of counterfeit seeds.
This is according to Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Ronoh, who noted that the suspects were nabbed in various parts of the country in a crackdown launched by the Ministry in collaboration with security officers.
The PS said that it was unfortunate that farmers have continued to reap low yields for a long due to uncertified seeds being sold to them by unscrupulous, unsuspecting dealers.
“Some of them fled to the neighbouring countries, but we managed to pursue and arrest them,” Ronoh said on Wednesday, January 31, during the annual Pyrethrum Farmers’ Harvest celebrations in Kericho County.
He has challenged the national government administration officers to stay alert to prevent the resurgence of such unscrupulous dealers peddling fake seeds.
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The Pyrethrum Board of Kenya organised the event in partnership with Kentagra Processing Company.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi also attended the event after flagging off the distribution of subsidized fertilizer at the Kedowa NCPB depot.
According to the PS, the interventions put in place by the government will ensure farmers reap maximum yields from their produce.
The PS urged the county governments to identify satellite stores to enhance farmers’ accessibility.
Linturi said that the government has captured data for 6.4 million farmers, which he noted has greatly helped in planning for the future of agriculture through science and technology.
Agriculture CS also announced that they have made available mobile grain dryers for sufficient drying before storage, a step which is meant to address post-harvest losses of grain harvests,
“There is no reason why we should lose our food because it has been stored in poor conditions…NCPB has been certified as storage facilities for the food and cereals, so the farmers who do not have good storage facilities should know we have public facilities where they can store it,” Linturi said.