The government has pledged to ensure that private dealers have greater access to varieties of quality seeds. The move is aimed at enabling seed traders from the private sector supplied with improved varieties directly from the agricultural research centres unlike in the past.
"Our intention is to reduce the bureaucracy faced by private dealers and farmers in their endeavour to get seeds from the Agricultural Seed Agency (Asa)," the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Development, William ole Nasha, said.
The move would also boost the production of improved seed varieties by the private growers and its supply to the local market.
According to the Deputy Minister, the country's demand for improved seed varieties was 212,000 tonnes, a far cry from the current supply of only 36,000 tonnes, of which 21,000 tonnes are produced locally and 15,000 tonnes imported.
However, during 2015/2016, production dropped to 15,000 tonnes from 21,000 tonnes produced locally. During 2016/2017 nevertheless, production is expected to rise to about 40,000 tonnes.
