Why Kastina tomato farmers fear new seeds

Tomato farmers in Danja Local Government Area of Katsina State are yet to adopt new improved seeds in recent years.  The farmers operate in their irrigation fields with wells and boreholes as their sources of water due to the absence of earth dam in the area. Many of the farmers interviewed lamented that they have […]

Tomato farmers in Danja Local Government Area of Katsina State are yet to adopt new improved seeds in recent years. 
The farmers operate in their irrigation fields with wells and boreholes as their sources of water due to the absence of earth dam in the area.
Many of the farmers interviewed lamented that they have been hearing about new improved seeds but that they have not been able to access them.  A large-scale tomato farmer, Alhaji Ahmadu Danja, said apart from inaccessibility of the new seeds, farmers are scared of trying something new.
“Since we are not subsistence farmers, we care much about the market value of our tomato, therefore we cannot afford to take a risk of cultivating a new tomato variety at commercial quantity. In this case, agro companies and research institutes should find avenues of contacting and sensitizing particularly large scale farmers on the opportunities in adopting new seed varieties or any agro product,” Alhaji Ahmadu, said.
He added that it was when the large-scale farmers understand the benefits and adopt the new seeds that the pool of tomato farmers will follow suit, adding that “farming is more of practical than a theory, so we need to test run such new seeds in small scale before we fully imbibe  them.”
He further explained that the most widely accepted tomato seed is UC 82B of Giraffaton, a company in France, and that they buy it through agro-allied retailers and dealers.
A popular agro-allied retailer in Danja, Alhaji Isiyaku Danja, said though they are coming across new seeds in the market, they chose not to purchase them as farmers in the area stick only to the varieties they are used to.
“In the event the farmers tries something new and it fails, they will put all the blame on you who supplied them with it; that is why we only purchase pioneer tomato seed varieties of Giraffaton (France), Starke Ayres (South Africa) and Technisem (Nigeria).
In dry season farming, UC 82B is the most favourable variety for our farmers here; and they demand that of Giraffaton much more than the others. The ratio of our sales is 10 cartons:1carton in favour of Giraffaton company seeds,” said Alhaji Isiyaku.
This reporter observed that tomato farmers in Katsina State depend largely on agro-allied retailers and dealers for the supply of seedlings, pesticides, water pumping machines and other required inputs, which they sometimes collect on credit pending when they harvest and sell their tomatoes.
Irrigation activities have since commenced in the area with tomato as the major crop being cultivated.