The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) says it is committed to enhancing agricultural productivity in the country to achieve food security in line with the agenda of the Federal Government.
The Director General National Agricultural Seed Council Dr. Ishiak Khalid, made this known at a meeting with stakeholders in the Agricultural Value chain in Kano state.
Daily Trust reports that the Nigerian Government had on May 2023 Launched the revised National Agricultural Seed Policy 2022 to liberalize the seed sub-sector and enhance private sector participation in its Development.
The seed policy was developed by National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) and other stakeholders towards ensuring that, farmers have unrestricted access to the best genetics to enhance productivity.
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According to the Director General, NASC, the seed industry in Nigeria is still evolving and being a critical input in enhancing agricultural productivity in the country stressing that it is imperative to give the policy maximum support to drives the system.
Khalid noted that with the coming of well-structured business concerns and individuals at both local and international levels, it is important to develop policy guidelines to regulate the industry.
“The new 2022 seed policy put in place with the support of the Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity of Feed the Future project introduced new policy statements aimed at achieving a robust National Seed System that enhances private sector participation in the seed industry and at the same time, define roles for the public and private sector.”
“These include Liberalization of Foundation seed (FS) production and marketing by private seed accredited seed enterprise, all seed Growers including public institutions and NARI centers and private seed companies shall be encouraged to establish a seed unit that shall be responsible for the production and marketing of EGS and such shall be accredited by NASC.”
Also, the President Nigeria AgriBusiness Group NABG, Kabir Ibrahim, represented by Muhammadu Abubakar, identified seeds as the corner stone of agriculture, saying quality seeds lead to better yields, increased food security, and enhanced incomes for our farmers.
He stressed the commitment of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) in supporting the implementation of the National Seed Policy.
“Our role as an advocate for agribusiness in Nigeria places us at the forefront of promoting policies that foster growth, sustainability, and profitability in the sector.”
Also speaking, the Country Manager Harvest Plus Dr. Yusuf Fu’ad said, the framework will further strengthen the role of private sector and inter-agency collaboration for seamless seed policy implementation in Nigeria.
He stressed the need to integrate processors who will in turn create market for smallholder farmers.
The multi-stakeholder workshop comprised of high level decision makers, seed producer groups, private seed companies, research institutions, civil society organizations, development partners and the academia.
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