The National Agricultural Seeds Council, burdened with the responsibility to ensure that farmers have access to quality seeds in Nigeria, held its annual seed fair in the capital Abuja, Nigeria.
The fair was attended by interested parties in the seed subsector and secondary school students in the federal metropolitan area.
The theme of this year's seed fair "Improving seed use for food security."
It aims to educate farmers about the importance of quality seed for harvesting bumper and ensuring food security.
In his speech, Dr. Philip Ojo, Director General of the National Council for Agricultural Seeds, said that the agency takes the seed business more seriously, expanding its partnership outside Nigeria.
He said the partnership bore fruit because it led to the creation of the Molecular Laboratory, which was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“We have expanded the base of our cooperation and now have meaningful partnerships with the Indian and Israeli embassies, NSCDC, BPSR, FRSC, DFID PERL, NIRSAL and AGRA to mention some of them.”
“NASC's collaboration with these stakeholders has begun to yield positive results, such as the NASC Molecular Fund funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the framework of the BASICS Cassava Seed System Program,”
Dr. Ojo said that the agency works with schools and colleges, which led to the creation of a demonstration plot in about five schools in the territory of federal capital.
He said that it seemed to students that it was important to improve seed agriculture and start an agricultural business.
“These young seed experts created demonstration plots of improved maize varieties in their schools, where young students are introduced to the rudiments of seed science with the intention of teaching them now to take advantage of the improved seeds and encourage them to adopt agriculture as a profession.”
Dr. Ojo also noted that the IITA application has developed the Cassava Seed Tracker application, which is designed to convert the analog certification system into a digital system.
“This application has all of our current process, digitized, and allows us to report on certification of cassava seed fields in real time. It also serves as a platform for engaging with stakeholders and increases the availability of logging and cassava tubers ", he said.
