Stories by John Oba,
Abuja
The federal government has unveiled the West Africa Electronic Seed platform, an online seed platform that is expected to lift seed barriers within the region, promote healthy competition and eventually create jobs.
Speaking during the unveiling of the initiative, during the weekend, the Director-General, National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), Dr. Philip Ojo said with over 157 registered private seed companies contributing about 70 per cent of total seed requirement of West Africa, Nigeria currently leads the region in terms of seed production.
The private sector led initiative was supported by the West Africa Seed Programme (WASP), West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) among others.
Ojo said the seed companies under the aegis of Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN), have commenced exportation of seeds to the West Africa region.
According to the D-G, the new initiative is expected to provide opportunities for stakeholders in the seed industry to contribute to food security and improve revenue earnings of the federal government.
Ojo said: “The electronic seed platform is targeted at making available and accessible information on agricultural seeds and will help to specifically define for seed stakeholders, an entry point and dissemination of relevant information of their activities.
“Present mapping of actors of the seed system; provide information on the seed market; provide a forecasting business area on seed; to bring together the diverse seed system actors and provide visibility to seed enterprises and institutions.”
The DG emphasized that the provision of such facility within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) community would improve access to genetic materials, officially released by countries within the sub-region.
“Nigeria has taken the advantage of the ECOWAS harmonised seed rules and regulations and has made its national seed rules and regulations consistent to that of ECOWAS,” he added.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Shehu Ahmed said most West African countries still grapple with issues regarding seed policies and regulation; seed market; seed demand and suppliers among others.
He noted that some of these constraints bedevil development of the West Africa seed sub sector.
However, the PS emphasized effort of the current administration to diversify the economy, narrating efforts of the agriculture ministry such as the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, Growth Enhancement Support Scheme among others.
He noted that since the ultimate goal is to reach out to the grassroot farmers, the issue of language and accessibility by local farmers should be addressed.
