TOSCI Set To Impart Over 500 Farmers With Quality Seeds Awareness -

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.