Farmers have been urged to proceed to their retail point of sales to purchase their subsidy seeds under the Planting for Food and Jobs for the 2021 farming season.
This was noted when the Directorate of Crop Services and Plant Protection Regulatory Directorate (PPRD) under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture inspected the seeds that the government contracted Seed Co West & Central Africa to provide for farmers under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) flagship programme.
In an interview with Agric Today, Dr. Solomon Gyan Ansah, the Deputy Director of the Crop Services Directorate under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said it is the mandate of the Ministry to get the best hybrid seeds for the farmers to plant.
“When we talk of subsidy, it is you and me, Ghanaians, all of us, our tax money that the government uses to support our farmers, so if the farmers do not get the best from these subsidized seeds then it means the government has wasted our money”, Dr. Gyan Ansah said.
The farming season is here again and as the government contracted Seed Co West & Central Africa to supply 100 mt of hybrid maize seeds for the Planting for Food and Jobs programme last year, this year, the government entrusted the company to supply 100 mt based on the good report of yields from the farmers.
To ensure quality imported seeds for farmers from Seed Co West & Central Africa, the PPRD officials took samples of the seeds to check the germination percentage on arrival. This is to make sure the government does not provide bad seeds for the farmers.
“The variety which we are supplying under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme is called SC719 or ‘Gemedi’ in Ghanaian local dialect. This is high yield hybrid seed with drought-tolerant and stretch needs”, Dr. Takemore Chagomoka, the Regional Manager, West and Central Africa of Seed Co said.
The maize varieties catalog that was released in Ghana last year, the SC719 variety so far was the one with the highest yield of 10 to 12 mt per hectare and the response from the farmers indicates that they need the seeds for production this year.
Dr. Takemore explained that since the inspection has completed it is the mandate of the company and the distributor to deliver the seeds to every district under the Planting for Food and Export programme for farmers to have easy access to plant.
Talking about distributing the SC719 seeds to the various districts, Mr. George Ametepey Tozo, the Finance and Administrative Manager of Agriseed Limited said Agriseed has a distribution shop across 8 regions so far, mostly in the Northern part of the country where maize farming is predominant.
“The trucks would convey the seeds from the Central Region to the distribution shops across the 8 regions within 48 hours after the inspection”, George Tozo said.
Resolving the challenges in the distribution channel of subsidized seeds for the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, George Ametepey Tozo said with the determinant price by the government which is GHs 12 per 1kg, they would make sure each farmer does not pay above or below the price.
He assured of equal distribution of the seeds to the farmers. He urged the farmers to patronize Seed Co maize seed variety for a bumper harvest as the planting season is about to start.
