Counterfeit Seeds Demoralize Gulu Small Scale Farmers

Local farmers in Gulu have expressed concern over the large volume of counterfeit seeds in the open market.

Most of the counterfeit seeds are for cereals like maize, beans, cabbage and groundnut which are widely grown in the Acholi sub region.

Farmers told Acholi Times that although they have invested heavily in opening up chunks of land for farming, they are often disappointed when the seeds they buy don’t germinate.

Andrew Nyeko, a vegetable farmer says fraudsters have learnt how to brand tins which contain the seeds to dupe local farmers into buying counterfeits seeds.

Nyeko who mostly grows onions and egg plants said farmers end up spending their money on seeds that don’t germinate.

Another farmer, Michael Megolonyo claims that he once bought a 250grams tin of seeds for green pepper from one of the local shop for agro inputs in Gulu town but failed to germinate.  Megolonyo says he got demoralized after his money went to waste.

For small scale farmers struggling with capital, a failure of seeds to germinates means a collapse of their farming business and a threat to their livelihoods.

Patrick Oola, the proprietor of Pur Aye Lonyo, an Agro- Inputs Dealer in Gulu town, advises farmers to buy seeds and other plant inputs from only authorized dealers. Lumumba says this will save the farmers from risks of buying counterfeit seeds.

Mark Moro, the northern regional Chairperson for Uganda Agro- dealers Association (UNADA) observes that diluting and counterfeiting can happen at many levels in the supply chain.

Moro explained that the seed companies typically sell seeds in large bags  which are usually split up at the retail level for small holder farmers to be able to afford.

Moro said this splitting crates an opportunity to adulterate the product.

The problem of counterfeit seeds is partly blamed on weak policies and poor  consumer protection from counterfeit seeds.

According to a paper published by  the World Bank researcher  in 2013, just 13% of farmers buy improved seeds from formal markets in Uganda. In  the report, the World Bank says the rest of the farmers rely on seeds saved from the previous season or traded informally between neighbours, but such seeds generally produce far lower yields than genuine high yield hybrids.

UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warns that fake seed makes it impossible for Uganda’s small farmers to adopt the modern agricultural techniques that lifted millions of Asian and Latin American farmers out of extreme poverty a generation ago.