Tanzania: Farmers who use certified seeds get substantially greater yields

The team consists of experts from International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute (TARI) and other partners in Tanzania. The study found that farmers who used certified seeds got substantially greater yields than farmers who used recycled seeds (uncertified). It showed that a farmer can get an additional of seven tonnes per hectare only by using the certified cassava stems. Rudolph Shirima, a Plant Virologist at IITA Tanzania who is part of the research team said: “In the Eastern Zone, farmers who had planted certified seed got 34 percent greater yields than those who had planted recycled seed of the same variety. In the Lake Zone, the difference was even greater, and yields of the Mkombozi from certified seed were 42 percent more than those who had used recycled seed of the same variety.” He said the research team measured cassava yields in the fields of 36 farmers in the Eastern Zone (growing variety Kiroba) and 36 farmers in the ...