The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) on Friday in Abuja, said that it would intensify its surveillance and compliance activities in 2021 to ensure that only improved certified seeds are sold to farmers.
The Director-General of NASC, Dr Philip Ojo, said this while briefing newsmen on the achievements of the council in 2020 and the expectations in 2021.
Ojo said that the withdrawal of operational licenses of 103 seed entrepreneurs in 2020 was a demonstration of the council’s determination to rid the markets of unscrupulous dealers.
According to him, following the recertification of companies accredited by NASC in 2020, the agency delisted and withdrew the operational license of 103 seed entrepreneurs out of the 314 seed enterprises in Nigeria.
He said that the action was necessary to further strengthen the seed industry.
“It is also important to ensure that only serious minded entrepreneurs with genuine seed industry vision and farmers interest have the mandate of the NASC.
“They are therefore eligible to participate in seed related activities of government, projects, donors and aid related program.
“Our message here to all fake seed operators is that we are just around the corner to stop their nefarious acts,’’ Ojo stressed.
He urged farmers to explore the council’s National Seed Tracker (NST) for enhanced operational efficiency of seed company registration and real time tracking of quality assurance processes.
Ojo, however, said that the council would introduce new innovations to track adoption of varieties in the country.
“With the support of BMGF, we will join Ethiopia and Tanzania to make effort towards institutionalising the monitoring of varietal adoption, turnover and performance using genotyping (DNA Finger-Printing) to trace effectiveness of varieties released and adopted by farmers.
“As technology is very important, we will this year conclude effort to digitise all activities of the agencies of government.
“We will continue to develop crop descriptors to support our field staff and other stakeholders in the identification of the distinctness, uniformity and stability traits of both released varieties and other varieties of common knowledge.
“This will further help the development of our seed sector,’’ Ojo said.
The Director-General further expressed his expectation that the Plant Variety Protection Bill currently before the National Assembly would be passed.
While emphasising the need for quality agricultural seeds, seedlings and other inputs as fundamental requirements to boost productivity of farmers, Ojo pointed out that using quality inputs would guarantee productivity and support efforts toward food security in Nigeria.
