By Ruth Kumwenda

Blantyre, March 21, Mana: Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) has reaffirmed its commitment to raising awareness on scratch card seed labelling technology, which was made through a collective action of government, private sector and civil society organizations to deal with rising cases of counterfeit seeds on the market.

Speaking to Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Thursday, FUM President, Maness Nkhata said despite the system being in place for some time, FUM noted that farmers were still not aware on how to use the innovation to verify authenticity of seeds.

“The objective is to raise awareness of the scratch card technology among farmers so that they should be able to distinguish certified seeds from fake seeds,

“Fake seeds constitute as high as 60 percent of the total seed that is sold to farmers annually. FUM has embarked on this initiative because we have realized that some farmers are still not aware of the scratch card seed labelling innovation,” she added.

Nkhata said that the awareness includes radio jingles, mass short message campaigns, posters and social media messaging on Facebook among others.

According to FUM, each seed pack contains the scratch card labelling such that farmers are encouraged to scratch the card and send the pin as a text message to 3015 to receive a confirmation message detailing company name, weight, type of seed and the date upon which the seed was certified. 

FUM further urged farmers not to sell empty seed packets to anyone, saying that could easily contribute to the counterfeiting.

Agriculture expert, Tamani Mvula commended FUM for the initiative saying the technology gives an assurance that the seed is genuine.

“The system has gone to a greater extent in ensuring that fake seed is taken away from the market as people that are selling fake seeds are now finding it difficult to replicate it,” he added.

Evelyn Nkhoma, one of the farmers from Traditional Authority Somba in Blantyre said after falling victim of counterfeit seed, she became more cautious when buying seeds.

“I do not just buy seed from anyone. Since 2023, I incurred losses after buying fake seeds. From now I always buy from registered Agro-dealers and verify my seeds to check if they are authentic,” she added.

Nkhoma however said she knew some individuals that go after farmers to collect empty seed packs telling them not to scratch cards on the pack.

Scratch card seeds labelling technology was introduced on maize and legume seeds in 2021/2022 agricultural season.