The President of the National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG), Dr Amos Rutherford Azinu, has encouraged farmers in need of maize seed to adopt and adapt local brands that were available and more affordable. 

Dr Azinu made the call in a statement, signed, and copied the GNA at the weekend. 

The statement followed a publication by the GNA with the caption, “Seed shortage had disrupted maize planting in Sissala.”  

Dr Azinu said, “The only possible explanation for the news report is that some farmers have been unable to get the specific brand of maize seed that they wanted, which are foreign seeds or imported seeds.”  

The statement according to the association’s research in communities such as Tumu, Gwollu, and Welembelle among others, revealed that there was no shortage of local hybrid maize seed. 

He suggested that the farmers should adopt and patronize local hybrid seed maize that had been produced by NASTAG members, most of which had their unique traits such as climate-smart, disease tolerance, nitrogen-water use efficiency and pro-vitamin A. 

He said the activities of seed merchants were hurting seed producers saying, “For some time now there are seed merchants who have emerged in the industry due to bad implementation of a policy. They are only interested in seed importation and refuse to invest in local seed production, which had tendency to frustrate the local seed production. 

Dr Azinu alleged that the seed merchants only exploited farmers under the narrative that locally produced maize hybrids were not good in quality and that it was an attempt to collapse local seed business because they had no investment in the industry. 

Dr Azinu appealed to the government through the Ministry of Food Agriculture to make full payment of seed supplied under the government programme of ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ from the 2020 to 2021 farming season.  

Dr Azinu stressed that for the past three years, members of NASTAG had made substantial investments in infrastructure in seed processing equipment, irrigation facilities, and human resources, which when supported could increase the hybrid seed stock that the country needed.