The National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has presented 500 high yielding seed canes to the Golden Sugar Company Ltd (GSC) in Sunti, Niger state.
The decision, coming ahead of the 2024/25 planting season, was part of efforts to empower sugar operators in the country for the implementation of the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) II towards attainment of self-sufficiency in the sector.
Executive Secretary/CEO of the NSDC, Mr. Kamar Bakrin who was represented by the Director/Interim Coordinator of NSI, Dr. Abiodun Adeyemo did the presentation to the company at the Nigeria Sugar Institute (NSI), Ilorin, Kwara State.
According to him, “We have provided a promising sugarcane variety, R579 and a total of 500 stalks have been carefully selected and packaged to about 2,500 sett.
“This initiative demonstrates our zeal towards achieving the objectives of NSMP II, one of the major solutions to addressing the challenges of low yield”.
The Agric Manager at GSC, Mr. Herman Smith, appreciated the coordinator for the seed cane for multiplication from NSI germplasm.
On his part, GSC Agronomy Manager, Mr. M. Venkat, said they had 120 varieties in their germplasm, but lacked this particular variety in their field.
“We discovered that this variety has a higher yield than most of the ones we have”, he noted.
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