FARMERS WARNED AGAINST RECYCLING TOMATO SEED

By Jessica Mwansa

OUR agronomists have generated hybrid seeds among the tomato seed varieties in order to deal with the rising cost of inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, pesticides among others but farmers should not recycle these seeds, agriculture expert Matthew Ntabo has warned.

In an interview with The Scoop, Mr. Ntabo said if farmers planted the hybrid tomato seed variety, they were assured of harvesting tomatoes for a period of about six to twelve months though it affected their production when they recycled the variety.

“Our farmers take tomatoes for sale and when they fail to sell everything, knowing that tomatoes have a very short shelf life, they crush the tomatoes to extract seeds for recycling. However, they have no means to grade the seeds to determine which seeds took up the most nutrients so they tend to keep all seeds for planting.

“When they plant recycled seed, the level of production from the recycled seeds will be low hence affecting their business in the long-run,” he said.

Mr. Ntabo said the ordinary traditional seeds only allow the farmer to harvest for a period of two months adding that most farmers preferred the hybrid seeds for its benefits.

“The hybrid variety plays with the genetics of the seeds, so if they plant the hybrid variety, it should not be recycled. Farmers should understand that recycling seeds will end up giving them losses compared to the input costs. The danger is that if farmers choose to buy tomatoes from the market with the aim to recycle seed without knowing the variety of seeds, the farmer will end up spending more on pesticides and fertilizers because the plants will be slow in developing and producing,” he said.

He said farmers should not look into saving the input cost but should focus on producing good yields and high levels of productivity.

“When our farmers think of recycling seeds, they should analyse the cost of losses and how seed recycling will affect the level of production and productivity. It is safe for a farmer to buy seeds that are certified instead of recycling seeds.

“Farmers normally have a perception of recycling seeds with the belief of having good yields from the same old seeds but that has implications as it leads to increased pesticides and low productivity. Farmers should understand that cheap is expensive,” he said.

He said farmers should always source certified seeds for all crops to enable them to increase their production as well as make profits, adding that recycled seeds lead to low plant growth and became more susceptible to pests and diseases.