Dr. Philip Olusegun Ojo, Director-General, National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), on Wednesday announced that about 81,000 metric tonnes of certified seeds ready for deployment and purchase by Nigerian farmers for the production of food and raw materials in the country.
Ojo, who stated this on online Zoom platform while addressing newsmen, said accredited seed companies across the country have 81,000 metric tonnes of rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, cowpea, millet, groundnut, wheat, sesame and potato that are ready for deployment and purchase by farmers.
He said his agency had come up with innovations on the distribution and deployment of the quality seeds across the country amidst COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the pandemic had impacted negatively on the agricultural sector in the country.
As part of the new measures, he said the NASC had partnered Wageningen University and Sahel Consulting to introduce a survey to assess first-hand the impact of COVID-19 on the seed sector.
He said: “To ensure that we clearly understand the challenges and impact of COVID-19 on the seed sector, the NASC together with Wageningen University, Netherland, and Sahel Consulting introduced a survey (quick scan survey) commencing from the month of April to assess first- hand the impact of COVID-19 on the seed sector.
“The scan has presented to us key areas of alert that are mostly impacted by the COVID-19and also recommended coping strategies that will guide our future actions to ensure that we continue to supply our dear farmers with best quality seeds while keeping the seed industry afloat during this trying period.”
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Ojo, however, expressed concern that the restriction on interstate movement across the country has negatively impacted on the movement of seed companies and farmers to point of sales as well as affected the production and supply of early generation seeds.
To ensure that Nigerian farmers get quality seeds during this cropping season, the Director General of NASC, said the agency would work together with critical stakeholders amidst COVID-19 to “Structure the trade of seed and agro-inputs in designated markets and on specific days while complying with physical distancing safety protocols at federal, states and local government levels.
He said seed sector task forces at federal, state and local government levels would be created to review regularly the interstate movement of essential agricultural goods and services and provide measures to be taken to relevant authorities, among others.
Ojo called on Nigerian farmers to return to their farm lands for aggressive production of food for the citizenry, using quality seeds from accredited dealers.
He said “The current situation has brought to the fore in a more pronounced way the importance of agriculture to our sustainability as a nation and the huge responsibility placed on the farmers across the globe has come out clearly.
“The urgent need to replace depleted food stock as a result of massive purchase and consumption is now starring us in the face and we can only achieve this using high quality seeds.”
