Smallholder farmers decry fake agricultural inputs

This was revealed during a ‘Farmer to Farmer’ exhibition held in Moshi Municipality, Kilimanjaro Region organised by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
With the theme ‘Farming is Business’, the event attracted more than 100 small-scale farmers from Arusha, Tanga, Mbeya, Njombe, Dar-es-salaam, Morogoro, Iringa and Naiorobi-Kenya.

Iringa-based horticultural farmer, Peter Nzalawahe said fake agricultural inputs including seeds are widely available in the Tanzanian market.
“To fight the importation of fake seeds and other agriculture inputs by multinational companies, more production is needed to satisfy our customers,” he explained.

He added that the other challenges they face is the lack of funds for agriculture as it is very difficult for a smallholder famer to get loans from financial institutions.

Nzalawahe further said that, due to lack of sufficient funds that could enable researchers to produce more quality seeds, Tanzania has been using about 30 per cent only of its seeds and the remaining 70 per cent is imported.

“It has been revealed that unless policy makers and scientists work together to solve seeds trading, counterfeit seeds trading will remain a major challenge in the country.” he said, adding that fake seeds or agricultural inputs sold to smallholder farmers will only end if the government takes strong action against unscrupulous traders.

Program Director of ‘Farmer to Farmer’ under CRS, Marry Katabange said the program promotes sustainable economic growth, food security and agricultural development worldwide.

“Volunteer technical assistance from US farmers, agri-businesses, cooperates, and universities help developing countries to improve productivity, access new markets, and conserve the environment and natural resources,” she noted.

According to her, this people-to-people interaction promotes international goodwill, understanding of US foreign assistance programs, and private involvement encourages development activities.

“Farmer-to-Farmer volunteers work with farmers, producer groups, rural businesses, and service providers to develop local capacity necessary to increase food production and rural incomes, expand economic growth, and address environmental and natural resource management challenges,” she pointed out.

On his part, CRS Country Director, Brian Gleeson told the Kilimanjaro Regional Agriculture and Cooperative Officer, Simon Msoka who represented the Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), Severine Kahitwa that CRS was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States to provide services to World War II survivors in Europe.

“Our core aim is to assist impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas, working in the spirit of Catholic social teachings to promote the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person,” he explained.

“As part of the universal mission of the Catholic Church, we work with local, national and international Catholic institutions and structures, as well as other organisations, to assist people on the basis of need, not creed, race or nationality,” he added.

Msoka said that the government in Kilimanjaro region commends the role played by the people of the US and CRS in promoting agriculture amongst smallholder farmers in the country and the world at large.