The agriculture minister in Lakes State, Poth Majak Daljang, has stopped the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from distributing seeds sourced from outside the country to local farmers.
He told Radio Tamazuj on Friday, after a meeting attended by officials from FAO, Governor Rin Tueny Mabor, and other sector partners, that they resolved to suspend the distribution of foreign seeds and agreed that FAO buy seeds locally so that farmers in the state benefit.
“We have a big problem now with our local seeds. At first, we were campaigning for our partners to purchase our local seeds, and there is a trick in this. This year, I have suspended the distribution of foreign seeds,” he said. “We held a meeting with FAO and the governor, and we resolved to buy local seeds from our local farmers. We told FAO to buy seeds from our local farmers.”
According to the minister, there is an issue with the pricing of local seeds as farmers sell in basins and cups while FAO buys in kilograms.
“Our local farmers are selling in basins and cups, but when you are engaged in international trade like FAO, then they use standards. However, we do not have weighing scales to measure the number of kilograms,” he explained. “They pressured me for a price, but I said let FAO go on the ground and agree with our farmers because it is not my work.”
Minister Majak admitted that some farmers sell seed at exaggerated prices.
“We want all our local farmers to use weighing scales for measurement because this is how we can benefit from our local products,” he stated. “We are dealing with market linkages and need training on these so that standards and our products are unified. We do not want to be cheated, and we also do not want to cheat.”
For his part, Mark Manyang, a local farmer, said farmers welcomed the minister’s decision because some of the seeds from other countries that a distributed by organizations do not germinate.
“Some of the seed varieties are very different from our natural seeds. I only encourage our farmers to use their seeds, which germinate here like our own groundnuts, dura (sorghum), okra, and other seed varieties, because they are better than seeds brought from other countries,” he said. “We have people who are selling groundnuts, but the organizations are not buying them. They (organizations) are supposed to buy local seeds and distribute them back to the farmers.”
Meanwhile, Angelina Adhel, a civil society activist in Lakes State, supported Minister Majak’s move to suspend the distribution of foreign seeds.
“We should distribute local seeds instead of seeds bought from other countries. The local farmers know what they cultivate and at what time they plant seeds,” she said. “Previously, farmers have been given these foreign seeds by international organizations, but at the end of the day, the farmers may end up eating them because, at times, they are distributed at the wrong time. Let the partners try to understand that they have to buy local seeds.”