Beware of fake maize seeds in the market!

A farm manager at DL farm in Soy constituency Uasin Gishu County, Wesley Tanui shows a section of the maize that has been attacked by fall armyworm on the farm. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

As the planting season draws near, rogue input suppliers are packaging fake seeds to sell to farmers. They have mastered the art of manufacturing and packaging seeds in packs which resemble the genuine one. They can also obtain genuine bags dishonestly from seed companies through which they pack counterfeit materials. In most cases, it is the ordinary maize laced with greenish or reddish colour to mimic the genuine seed. When farmers buy such seeds the result is poor germination or non-germination.

So how do you detect fake seeds?