Seed Council Assures Nigerians of Bumper Harvest
Dr Olusegun Ojo, Director-General, National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), has assured Nigerians of bumper harvest, good quality seeds, improved standard of living and overall improvement in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Ojo gave the assurance after a meeting of partners at the council’s headquarters in Abuja.
He said that this would be made possible through a project he called Rapid Multiplication and Production of Early Generation Seed for Production of Certified Seeds for Farmers in Nigeria.
He said that the project was aimed at making sure that early generation seeds comprising of foundation seeds and breeder seeds were produced in abundance.
Ojo further stated that the meeting was for planning and review of the consortium comprising NASC and two leading seed companies, Premier Seed and Value Seed.
He said that the meeting came as the need arose, to appraise the development and performance of the consortium.
“The meeting is being held at the instance of NASC because it is the one coordinating the other two stakeholders and more so, it is due to the fact that money has been released by AGRA for the execution of various aspects of the project.
“Therefore, this meeting is to find out the level of implementation from each of the stakeholders,’’ he said.
Mr Folarin Okelola, the Project Manager of the AGRA Early Generation Seed (EGS) programme, said that the two leading seed companies, Premier Seed and Value Seed were saddled with the responsibilities of producing quality rice, maize and soybeans seeds.
“Very soon, the challenge of early generation seeds production in Nigeria will be a thing of the past,’’ he assured.
He added that the project was funded by AGRA and other donors including USAID, UKAid, BMGF and Rockefeller foundation under the acronym of PIATA.
According to him, Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA) is the umbrella body where donors pull their resources together to support various agricultural development programmes in the region.
Mr Agboola Adebayo, the NASC Director, Seed Inspectorate, said that the two seed companies had been given the responsibilities of producing about 810 metric tons of EGS of rice, maize and soybeans.
He stressed the importance of EGS as far as seed production was concerned.