With the objective of obtaining information about the physiological and sanitary quality, of corn and bean seeds, utilized by farmers in the semiarid region of the State of Sergipe, Brazil, seeds originated from six countries of the North west region (Porto da Folha, Canindé do São Francisco and Poço Redondo) and the Southwest (Tobias Barreto, Simão Dias and Poço Verde) were evaluated in the agricultural year of 1987. One hundred and seventy six samples of beans and corn seeds were collected, in the period between March and May. When the farmers brought the samples, they gave information by filling out a questionnaire, about the cultivated area, seed origin, cultural practices, drying and storage of seeds. The physiological quality was evaluated by germination and vigor test (1st counting and field emergence) and the sanitary quality was evaluated using the blotter test and growing on test. The bean seeds had an average of germination and vigor of 59.9% for the Northwest region and 59.28% for the Southwest region, where the Poço Verde country had the highest percentage of germination (72.2%) and vigor (74%). The corn seeds had 66% and 58.2% in the Northwest region and 66.0% and 56.4% in the Southwest. Thirteen microorganisms were detected in the samples of seeds, with predominance of Aspergillus niger and Fusarium sp.