The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro), the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), the Kenya Markets Trust, Agri Experience togethr with various local seed companies have launched a seed bank to give farmers and agro dealers and extension officers info on seed varieties, soils and specific weather conditions for cultivation.
Dubbed MbeguChoice, the site is home for Kenyan farmers, agrodealers and extension specialists who are looking for a well suited variety for early maturity, drought tolerance among others. To use the site, one has to indicate the county they are located in, which ecological zone their farm is located and which crop they are looking for.
The organizations says MbeguChoice was developed to help Kenyan farmers, extension workers and agrodealers better understand available seed varieties, ensure that farmers are planting the crop varieties best suited to their areas, that is, ensuring that seed is suitable and not “out of position”, showcasing the excellent new varieties available on the market, including the special attributes of the crop varieties, and improving yields on Kenya’s farms.
The partners also run SeedWorks to help avail the much needed resources to farmers. The firms says the online database now has over 200 commercialized crop varieties of crops such as Maize, beans, Irish potatoes and Sorghum and many others are being added to th database by day. Though some farmers have no access to the Internet, their families do and its the family members who will sign up, check the seeds and relay the information back home to their parents or families back home.
This site is also expected to help end the sale of fake seeds sold by fraudlent seed dealers as the site lists the genuine seed dealers in their counties. Try out Money Boss today.
