Desmodium Seed Production

A workshop has been held to discuss Desmodium production and distribution by the seed companies operating in east Africa, community-based groups, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, KARI and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, KEPHIS.

They expressed willingness to work with farmers to produce Desmodium seeds and establish efficient input production and distribution systems in the target areas.They also agreed  to conduct studies  to identify cost-effective and sustainable pathways of establishing push-pull fields. From the lessons learnt in the current Push-pull project, seeds and vines are critical in establishment of Desmodium. Seed companies (public and private) have been identified and engaged in the production and marketing seeds of the identified intercrop plants. Seed companies in Tanzania and Ethiopia will be identified and linked to farmer groups for seed production. Similarly, the capacity of Western Seed Company to produce more seed will be enhanced through training and linking with farmer groups.

Also, community-based seed production and distribution systems are being  initiated to ensure sustainable seed systems in the target areas. These activities are carried out by icipe, together with the NGOs, farmer groups, seed companies and agro-dealers.

Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, KEPHIS  major objective in Desmodium seed production  is to protect the new varieties of plants by an intellectual property right and and  establishes standard procedures for sampling and testing seeds to promote uniformity in seed testing of seeds.