Serumula Development Association together with the Farmers Seed Potato Association called Tapole ke Letlotlo have this year planted a total of 15 hectares of land to the BP1 seed potatoes.

The total number of farmers involved is twenty; found in the villages of Semonkong, Tsenekeng and Salemone. These farmers have been producing seed potato since 2004. In terms of production per hectare; there have been some increases. In the beginning the farmers got 9 tons/ha. In the later years the average production rose to 12 tons/ha. This has been a considerable increase when compared to maize production in the area. The maize crop production in the mountains has been from 400kg to 600kg per ha. The lowlands under intensive agriculture have been producing about 2 tons per ha as the highest yield. The Semonkong farmers have indicated that; this harvesting season; they are expecting close to 15- 20 tons/ha of the seed potato. It is therefore expected that about 300 tons of seed potato shall be harvested this year- 2010. The price of 25kg bag has been put at M150.00; taking into consideration all the production costs.

The harvesting of the seed potato has this month (July 2010) started. It is expected to end by the middle of July. It is therefore anticipated that the farmers shall start selling their produce by end of July 2010. The potatoes have been subjected to inspection and quality control by the Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security Personnel and have passed as good quality seed. In the past; poor potato seeds have been produced and sold in the country by other organizations and business people; this has brought a lot of problems related to spread of plant diseases and contamination of environment. Because of these problems; Serumula and the Farmers have been working hard; to make sure that the potatoes; they are producing and selling meet the required standards. For the purposes of differentiating their product from other products the seed shall be contained in the sky blue bags and have tags showing their type, owner, generation, locality and Serumula Logo.