The Nigerian Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) held its annual National Seed Day and Field Farmers Day. The event was attended by interested parties, including seed scientists, researchers, farmers, seed companies, and development partners.
The seed fair was designed to showcase the advances made by the council to ensure that research on seed production addresses the basic needs of a Nigerian farmer, especially because of the adverse effects of climate change, in order to increase the productivity of its people. and engage the business side of agriculture for economic growth and provide a well-regulated seed market.
At this event, stressing the impact of poor-quality seed, participants agreed that farmers need to improve the quality and quality of seeds to ensure quality harvesting.
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The event began with a symposium that brought together scientists, both locally and internationally, to brainstorm the creation of a platform to promote improved seeds in order to increase the adoption of farmers.
The symposium also focused on creating a platform for seed companies to demonstrate their proven varieties; increasing the link between seed companies and farmers who expand the availability and marketing of improved seeds, as well as the impact of the unregulated seed market on the Nigerian agro-industrial sector, the health of its citizens and the economy.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the head of Audu Ogbe noted at the event that without a sustainable seed system, the country will not achieve its goal of food sufficiency.
“It is important to note that agricultural seeds play a crucial role in the rapid development and transformation of agriculture. Therefore, without a viable and sustainable seed system, we are very far from achieving the benefits of an improved and transformed agricultural sector, which is a catalyst for economic recovery and development.
“Seeds, as we know, are the farmer’s most valuable resource, so a sustainable catalytic innovation is needed to achieve sustainable progress in order to provide a sustainable seed system to meet the growing needs and challenges of the agricultural and economic sector in Nigeria,” said Ogbe. ,
The minister, however, said: “The government will strengthen NASC to ensure compliance with seed laws and will continue to deter those who are cheating farmers by selling poor quality seeds; we will also empower our farmers by providing them with access to better quality seeds. ”
In his speech, NASC CEO Dr. Philip Ojo said that the use of regulated improved seeds is an outlet for increasing productivity and improving food security. He urged Nigerians to abandon the use of fake and fake seeds.
According to him, “NASC has a national vision for creating market-oriented seed industry, responsible for the production, distribution and marketing of a sufficient number of quality seeds / planting materials that are affordable and accessible to all farmers. NASC's mission is to transform the Nigerian seed industry into foreign currency, a key employer of labor and wealth creation.
“In accordance with its vision, NASC is organizing this“ march to improve seed adoption ”to raise awareness of the wider adoption and use of improved seeds to increase demand and encourage the production of a sufficient number of improved seeds that are affordable and affordable.
“I want to state categorically that improving seed use is the most economical means of increasing agricultural productivity. It is important to tell you everything that happened last year and today, great success has been achieved in the Nigerian seed industry, and I will crave your indulgence to allow me to mention some of them. ”
Speaking, Director General of the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Professor Alex Akpa said that Nigeria could not make progress in agriculture without adopting any scientific tool.
He said that various countries that are doing well in agriculture have long since adopted biotechnology, because the scientific tool improves crop yields by using improved seeds.
His words: “The use of biotechnology in agriculture is mainly to improve seeds, so that farmers can have access to quality seeds and improved seeds, seeds that can withstand weather conditions, global warming, rising temperatures that can be resistant to pests and insects that can also be drought tolerant, flood resistant and nutritionally improved.
“We cannot actually take agriculture into business without using the tools of science and technology, of course, we are talking about the application of biotechnology.
"It is safely used in other parts of the world, in all the developed countries that we have today, be it the United States, Brazil, Japan, India, China, and then Africa, South Africa, and Sudan, this technology has been used for the last 20 -22 years without any health risks, because we have a regulatory framework, here in Nigeria, we also have a regulatory framework, we have the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) burdened with ensuring that technology is safe to use Xia and safety practices in the country. "
Professor Akpa, who was introduced by the Deputy Director of the Agency, Dr. Rosa Gidado, reported on the collection of two improved cotton varieties, which was tested for high yields compared to a regular variety.
“I also want to inform you that we have two varieties of cotton (improved seeds) that have been released for commercialization so that farmers can access, and these two varieties of cotton are very profitable, they can yield from 4.1 to 4, 4 tons per hectare, and the usual give only 250 – 900 kg per hectare, so you can see the margin, so we can not talk about economic diversification, not to mention agriculture, and we can not take agriculture into business without using appropriate technologies such as biotech logy ", – he added.
"This seed fair is very unique, because we did a road show to tell Nigerians about abandoning the use of fake seeds, falsified seeds, they have to go for quality seeds, farmers have to go for seed improvement, which will give them a bumper harvest that their transistor is in fact from small-scale farming to running a business, so that they can be empowered, ”the NABDA DG noted.
