<<Print>>

Stakeholders in the seed industry have called on agriculture research scientists in the country to confirm the superiority or otherwise of some imported seed maize varieties being introduced on the local market. They noted that research is necessary in order for the country to avoid inferior seed varieties being introduced into the market out of the commercial interests by some seed companies. This came out at a workshop organised by the West Africa Seed Alliance (WASA), for stakeholders in the seed industry in the Southern part of Ghana in Accra, on the new Plant and Fertiliser Law of the country and the draft regulation and policy. The participants also called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to promote active development of the vegetable seed industry, since gradually large number of Ghanaian farmers are specialising in vegetable production. The workshop called for the equipping of seed inspectors with means of transport to enable them provide the needed supervision and inspection for the development of the seed industry to compete favourably with the imported ones. Speaking at the workshop, Mr Cletus Achaab, Head of the Seed Inspectorate Division of the MOFA, called on seed inspectors to be serious with their work to help reduce the number of complaints about the quality of seeds on the market. He called on all in the seed industry to comply with the requirements of the law to help develop the seed industry and agriculture. Mr Samuel Yao Adzivor, Ashanti Regional Seed Coordinator and a resource person at the workshop, called on seed inspectors to do thorough checking of seed farms to ensure that the products are picked from the most healthy, high yielding plants with good quality fruits. He said diseased plants should be taken away from the seed fields and not to be destroyed on the farms to avoid infection. Ms Angelina Dekpor of WASA said the alliance facilitated the workshop which was sponsored by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, a non-governmental organisation. Similar workshops had been organised for stakeholders from the three northern regions in Tamale and those in the middle belt in Kumasi.