By Wallace Mawire
Harare- SEEDCO (Pvt) Ltd, a leading African Seed Company and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) have joined hands and launched a nationwide campaign against sellers of fake seed which some fraudsters in the country are selling to unsuspecting clients.
They malcontents target mainly farmers who are now eager to engage in farming activities as the new 2024/2025 season is just starting.
Felistas Gurajena,Seed Co Zimbabwe Managing Director thanked the ZRP for the continuous partnership, especially for the operation and said at the launch of the campaign that over the yearsl,. Seed Co continues to be a major contributor to Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and invests heavily in technology that ensures that the company provides quality seed to farmers in the country.
Gurajena said that her company is in the process of upgrading and expanding its seed processing and grading lines,its factory dryer and its Research and Development (R&D) laboratory for molecular breeding and genetic purity testing.
She also that the company is assisting seed growers with funding for irrigation and other infrastructure and remains committed to providing innovative agricultural solutions as well as supporting farmers to achieve sustainable practices through the provision of agronomic trainings, climate smart varieties that are drought tolerant, quality seeds, executive genetics and high yielding varieties to ensure bumper harvests.
Gurajena said that her company is excited that the 2024/2025 selling season is upon the country and the Meteorological Department has given the country hope that the season will be better than the previous ones as normal to above normal rainfall is expected.
‘I am happy and confident to say, as Seed Co, we are more than ready to supply quality seeds that are suitable for every agro-ecological region in the country.We continue to invest millions and millions of dollars annually into the Research and Development of superior hybrid and certified seed products,’Gurajena said.
She added that the company has in their product basket field crop seed products in the categories of maize, wheat, barley, soyabean, sugarbeans, small grains and well as various vegetable seeds.
She said that as the leading brand in Agrobusiness, the company is not blind to fraudsters that are swindling the people of Zimbabwe of their hard-earned money by selling them fake seeds in fake packaging.
‘This deplorable act must be treated with the contempt it deserves, and this is why we are working tirelessly with the ZRP across the country to make sure that this lawlessness is nipped in the bud,’Gurajena said.
Dr Gorden Mabuyaye,SeedCo Group Head of R&D informed the nation on certified seed, hybrid seed and how it differs from grain or stored granary seed known locally as “chemudura”.
Gurajena said that the fraudsters are using green paint to copy SeedCo certified seed selling it to unsuspecting buyers.
She said that it is most unfortunate that annually farmers are losing their hard-earned money to bogus suppliers of fake seed who are seemingly cheaper than the official distributors like SeedCo.
She said that this has become increasingly difficult to visually differentiate between original seed and fake seed as the fraudsters are becoming cleverer in preparing their products.
Gurajena said that sometimes the fraudsters are even stealing original seed packaging and packing fake product inside.
‘It is therefore very important that farmers buy their seed from the reputable distributors that we work with. We also have own shops that service the farmers. Our goal is to make sure farmers never have to travel more than 2km to get Seed Co seed, we are driven to achieve this as Customer Centricity is one of our values,”Gurajena said.
She added that the sale of fake seeds has a far-reaching negative effect, not just for Seed Co or other seed companies, but trickles down to the farmers, the country and the region.
Gurajena encouraged citizens of the country to report bogus traders to the police because they are breaking the law namely the Seed Act and the Trademark Act.
She said that in 2020/2021, 51 cases of fake seed fraud were were reported and 138 tonnes were recovered.
She added that in 2021/2022, 47 cases were reported and 117.5 tonnes were recovered.
According to Gurajena, in 2022/2023, 40 cases were reported and 74 tonnes have been recovered.
In 2023/2024, 35 cases were reported and so far, 35 have been recovered.
She said the decline in cases reported last season is a result of the fruitful partnership with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).
Gurajena said that her company endeavours to continue the operation until they get to a point where zero cases are reported and there is no fake seed on the streets. She also urged prospective farmers and members of the public to buy certified Seed Co seed because. Seedco Head of Security, Sboka Mufudze presenting on some of the fake seed that has been identified over the years on the market said that it is not always visually easy to identify the fake products as the culprits are becoming more and more crafty.
Mufudze said that some of the fake features can be identified on the fake product animal pictures, the variety name, the packaging material and the pricing.
Gurajena and Mufudze said that the fake seed products are lowly priced and the prices are changed at any time apart from the genuine company seeds which are consistently priced and sold at reputable retail outlets across the country.
Dr Gorden Mabuyaye, Seedco Head of Research said that SeedCo product development process takes many years, from about 13 to more years. He said that genuine seed has consistent performance which has been tested over the years. He also said that the colourings applied to the seed such as the green and red colours consist of chemicals applied to protect the seed from pests, unlike the fake seed. Mabuyaye said that growth and yield performance is not guaranteed on fake seeds and warned farmers not to be duped of their hard earned money. ZRP Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed that the police had launched a joint operation with SeedCo to curb the sale of counterfeit maize seed. Nyathi said that the police was aware of people taking advantage of the promising season selling fake seed to unsuspecting clients at hardwares and some open markets, especially at Mbare Musika in Harare
. Nyathi said that the operation on fake seed traders would run until the end of the year. He also said that the force was working with agronomists seconded by SeedCo to identify the fake seed sold by fraudsters.
He said that at Mbare Musika, tonnes of fake seed had been pounced on and arrests made. He encouraged members of the public to make any reports on fake seed sales to the police on number 024703631 and WhatsApp number 0712800197. Commissioner Nyathi said that the police will enforce provisions of the Seed Act, Chapter 19:13 to ensure that the law takes its course against individuals, syndicates and traders found selling fake or counterfeit maize seed.
