#Tanzania: Ukiriguru Probes Failed Cotton Seeds RESEARCHERS at - TopicsExpress



          

#Tanzania: Ukiriguru Probes Failed Cotton Seeds RESEARCHERS at Ukiriguru Agriculture Research Institute (ARI) are studying reasons behind failure by cotton seeds to germinate in parts of Lake Victoria regions. Acting ARI Zonal Director, Dr January Mafuru, said the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives wants to get scientific reasons why the improved cotton seeds failed. Policy makers are asking us to give them scientific reasons behind the failure, Dr Mafuru told Daily News recently. He said the UKM08 cotton variety which was developed by researchers at UARI is promising because it has shown higher ginning outturn hence likely to replace the UK91 which is currently being widely grown by farmers. Our institute gave a private company called Quton breeding rights to reproduce more seeds to supply to farmers but we dont know exactly what went wrong, Dr Mafuru pointed out saying there are several factors that might have played a role hindering successful germination of the seeds in some parts. Quton Tanzania Limited which won a tender to multiply the modernized cotton seeds blames a number of factors for the failure including soil type and farmers ability in handling seeds professionally. After hearing that our seeds did not germinate in some parts of Shinyanga region, we decided to collect samples and do our own field trials, results are over 70 per cent germinations, said Quton Tanzania General Manager, Ms Tariro Sithole. Ms Sithole pointed out that the improved cotton seeds are very delicate and require some favourable conditions to germinate successfully saying some farmers did not adhere to such requirements. Even the storage facilities of seeds were found to be poor in some cases, she argued. The Quton GM further noted that there also exist many irregularities I the seeds and agro-input distribution system in the cotton subsector hence her company cannot clearly trace seeds sold to famers as most of them lack evidence. We even ask farmers to show us receipts issued upon purchasing the seeds but they dont, not even sacks where the seeds were packaged, Sithole pointed out while suggesting that although Quton has rights to multiply the new variety and sell to farmers, other players are also doing the same. She expressed her frustration as a breeder because, Too much importance is put on breeders in Africa and Tanzania to develop new improved varieties, however it must be said that this could be very frustrating for breeders when farmers are only achieving on average 20-30 percent of genetic potential, due to poor agronomic practices. The new UKM08 cotton variety is also higher in yield at 1000-1200kg/acre compared to UK91s 600-800kg/acre). These superior qualities result in huge economic benefits to the farmer, the ginner and the national economy. There are also other promising superior varieties in the pipeline being bred by UARI. (Y) Hope for Africa Like Comment Share
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 12:00:00 +0000

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