Business News of Thursday, 1 April 2010

Source: GNA

Agro-Input dealers urged to buy and sell only certified seed maize

Amasaman, April 1, GNA - Mr Cletus Achaab, Head of the Seed Inspectorate Division of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), has advised agro-input dealers to ensure that bags of seed maize they purchase for sale always contain certification tags.

He explained that the certification tags showed that the seeds had been tested by the appropriate authorities as well as all of their basic qualities guaranteed to support high yields.

Mr Achaab was speaking at a two-day training workshop for representatives of the Regional branches of the Ghana Seed Producers Association (SEEDPAG) and Ghana Agriculture Input Dealers Association (GAIDA) at Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region.

The workshop was aimed at preparing stakeholders in the seed industry before the passing of the new seed law by Parliament and the regulations attached to it before the law comes into force. Mr Achaab appealed to members of SEEDPAG and GAIDA to co-operate and support the Seed Inspectorate Division to ensure that charlatans, who were disturbing the fast development of the seed industry with fake seeds, were weeded out.

Mr Lance Delmini, a resource person, called on members of SEEDPAG to diversify their production and take on the production of vegetable seeds to support vegetable production in the country. 1 April 10