Planning to plant tomatoes? Be on the lookout for seedlings that have not been licensed.

“It’s been observed that some people are importing and distributing seedlings illegally without licenses or permits, marking these ‘fake’ seedlings with good variety names such as T49, T17 and JT50,” Franklin’s Kangwa recently warned farmers on the Small Scale Farmers (Farming As Business ) Facebook group.

To ensure you buy certified seedlings, ask the dealer for the practicing license, issued and stamped by the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute, or buy them from a reputable company or agent.

The danger of using unlicensed seedlings is that they have not been tested and approved for Zambian soil, and the farmer could be exposed to financial losses and in the worst case to crop failure.