Kishapu farmers call on more quality seeds

Fredina Saidi, coordinator of the Kishapu Knowledge Centre (KNC) made the call in Dar es Salaam recently when speaking to feminists, members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) members from different regions across the country and financial institutions on 30 Years Post Beijing: Where is the Funding for Sustainable Women’s Rights Organizing and Transformation Session.

The event was organised by Women Fund Tanzania Trust (WFTT) and took place at Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP).

“We are calling for the research institutes to help us because every year during farming season, we have been struggling to obtain high quality seeds because most of those which we get are easily affected by insects especially when a crop starts to germinate,” she said.

She named other issues affecting women in Kishapu District as climate change saying that in 2022/2023 farming season, droughts and insects cause more crop damage and yield loss, it brought huge effects in maize, sorghum, sweet potatoes, paddy and groundnuts production and reduce yields for farmers.

Fredina is among farmers who were affected by climate change in the 2022/2023 farming sector.

“Before climate change effects, I used to get 30 sacks of maize from six acres of land located in Kishapu District but due to severe drought and insects, harvest has declined to 12 sacks which are only enough for consumption,” she said.

Fredina also used to harvest 35 sacks of paddy from one acre of land, but in 2022/2023 farming season, she managed to obtain 10 sacks of paddy, which is very little as a result of droughts.

Currently Fredina has 17 acres of land allocated for maize, paddy, sweet potatoes, sorghum and ground nuts.

Among those, eight acres of land have been allocated for sorghum farming, six acres for maize production, two acres for groundnut farming and one acre for paddy production.

According to her, she could not harvest anything from sorghum, groundnuts, or sweet potatoes as the crops were affected by insects.

She said climate change has reduced income at household level and access to food for Kishapu residents that’s why they are calling for the government and agricultural research institutes to increase support especially in the area of seeds.