Nigeria’s one extension officer for every 7000 farming households has been classified as the lowest in Africa and the biggest challenge the sector is faced with.
The African Seed Access Index (TASAI) in a research presented during a one day TASAI-AGRA Dissemination Workshop in Abuja further commended the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) newly introduced e-certification saying seed enterprises satisfied with NASC efforts is quite high.
Presenting the report, the TASAI Programme Coordinator, Dr. Mainza Mugoya, said Nigeria is the largest producer/seller of rice seed among Africa countries surveyed and that rice seed sales in West Africa significantly higher than volumes sold in Eastern/Southern Africa.
He said the TASAI research for Nigeria was completed in August 2019, with support from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program.
“TASAI seeks to promote the creation and maintenance of enabling environments for competitive seed systems serving African farmers. TASAI measures the top four grain and legume crops, maize, rice, sorghum and soya bean. Research combines secondary data, primary data from industry surveys & key informants.
” And following the completion of the TASAI country study for Nigeria, TASAI, in collaboration with AGRA, convened a one-day workshop for the country’s seed industry stakeholders at the Reiz Continental Hotel in Abuja, to discuss the findings of the TASAI Nigeria country study.
“A comprehensive discussion of the findings as well as the priority industry, policy and institutional issues for reform of the seed industry in the country;
MTo share the experiences from the private sector seed industry in Kenya.
‘Seed companies and research institutions need to work together to forecast demand for basic seed,/ Seed distribution systems need to be built in the rural areas to reduce reliance on government agencies and NGOs which are not sustainable
“The NASC should further strengthen its seed inspection capacity, the reasons for the low rate of variety commercialization should be investigated. Less than half of the maize (33%), rice (38%) and sorghum (46%) strengthen agricultural extension systems and strengthen SEEDAN as platform for seed industry, especially since the private sector is steadily growing,” he said.
The country representative Dr. Kehinde Makinde in his remark said AGRA’s strategy in Nigeria is built on past successes and learning’s, adding that AGRA has invested US$ 15.97m in input market systems development, innovative finance, research, capacity building and policy and advocacy.
“The current strategy has renewed emphasis on policy and state capability with additional investments in enhancing systems and farmer level development. Nigeria and AGRA’s vision for Agriculture are in alignment in addition to AGRA’s overall strategy to work more closely with governments,” he said
The NASC Director-General, Dr. Philip Olusegun Ojo, said NASC intends to meet all procurement officers from government institutions that buy seed, according to him, these officers will be made aware about the legal requirements for seed production, such as only registered seed producers/companies can sell seed, and all seed must be certified by NASC. NASC will require that all procurement transactions must first receive a no objection from NASC.
He aid the council has launched e-certification system that will further help to reduce the incidence of adulterated seeds in Nigeria.