The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) has kicked off the process of setting up a state-of-the-art regional laboratory in Nyeri County.
The laboratory, which will be located adjacent to the Wambugu Farm Agricultural Training Centre and the Kenya School of Agriculture, is expected to also serve Central and Eastern region counties.
According to KEPHIS Managing Director Prof. Mwenda Mutui, the facility will strengthen the provision of services, including seed certification, plant health inspection and advanced laboratory analysis for soil, water and animal feeds. It will also feature demonstration plots for National Performance Trials (NPT) to support innovation and research in agriculture.
On Wednesday, Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Mutahi Kagwe, led a delegation of officials from KEPHIS for an inspection tour of the 15-acre piece of land where the facility will sit. The CS said the futuristic laboratory will create the necessary framework required to increase agricultural production amidst the diminishing availability of arable land under food production.
“As you know, the size of farms in Nyeri County and in the wider region are not growing. That means that in order for us to increase productivity for our farmers, we must now produce more per unit and more food per acre than we have done in the past.
The only way to do this is by ensuring that we adopt very high-level farming husbandry and farming methods so that we produce more per acre. And the only way you get to that scientific end is when we have institutions to be able to help us to do so,” said Kagwe.
“It is very important for us to increase productivity, but as you know, we are not going to increase the area. We can only increase productivity where we test the soil properly, where the seeds that we are using are properly certified, and where the husbandry for the same is the highest in the world,” added the CS.
Kagwe said that the new lab will act as a backup lab for the other KEPHIS labs in the country and will play a crucial role in increasing the country’s capacity to carry out more extensive soil and seed tests.
To further improve its efficiency, the CS said that the modern laboratory will also employ the latest technology to fast-track soil testing, soil and crop disease analysis and seed certification processes.
“In this new lab we are going to use the newer methods of testing. We are going to have the capacity and capability of very digital methods for testing. So the idea here is that we have the technological capability to fast-track the testing process and simulate the seed samples within our laboratories here to see how plants can behave in our climates and how they will behave as they come for real planting in the farms within a shorter time, ”said the CS .
The CS also called for treason charges to be preferred against individuals caught selling fake seeds. Kagwe said that his ministry will intensify crackdowns on illegal distributors and sellers of uncertified seed in the country.
While challenging the National Assembly to pass laws that will prescribe tougher punishment for fake seed sellers, Kagwe said the sale of fake seeds poses a direct threat to national food security and also amounts to economic sabotage, and as such, individuals practising the unscrupulous trade should receive the toughest punishment.
“It is important for our security apparatus to be aware of this thing and to arrest immediately those people who are selling fake seeds. Fake seeds are a national security issue and should be handled as such. Those who are selling fake seeds should be held as treasonous individuals. It is treason, really, because when people in the country do not have food, we all know what happens. For me, selling fake seeds is a very serious issue and should be handled as such,” stated Kagwe.
He also urged the farmers to protect themselves from falling prey to the scammers by purchasing certified seeds from licensed distributors.
“The important thing we are telling the farmers is do not buy the seeds that have not been certified by KEPHIS because there are people out there pretending that they have been licensed to sell you seeds and seedlings, when, as a matter of fact, they have not been certified.
The important thing is to ensure that the farmers have the information on the importance of only buying certified seeds,” he said.
By Wangari Mwangi and Diana Odipo
