Expert seeks action against fake seeds

The Executive Director, Agricultural and Rural Management Training Institute, Dr Olufemi Oladunni  has urged the Federal Government to take action against private companies producing  counterfeit seeds. He said the seeds have been trapping farmers in a cycle of poverty as their crops fail.

Fake seed makes it impossible for small farmers to adopt the modern agricultural techniques that lift millions of American farmers out of extreme poverty.

This is because a whole illegal industry has developed, cheating farmers by selling them seeds that promise high yields but fail to germinate at all – with results that can be disastrous.

Fake seeds, according to him, is one of the many factors that have kept small-scale farmers poor.

Currently, there is lack of trust in local seed markets even for large commercial farmers, some of whom have invested heavily to plant hundreds of acres with high yield hybrids that simply didn’t germinate.

He said increasing the use of improved seed varieties is a must for improving the living standards of farmers.

Meanwhile, Nigeria-based Value Seeds tops the rankings in new research on seed companies operating in Western and Central Africa. Other Nigerian companies also dominate the top half, such as Maslaha Seeds, Premier Seed, and Da-Allgreen Seeds, showing the relative strength of the seed industry from Nigeria.

However, the overall picture is one of international and African seed companies falling short in delivering quality seed and new varieties to smallholder farmers. This limits the potential to address food security, nutrition and climate resilience, according to a new study by the Amsterdam-based Access to Seeds Foundation. While there is a growing number of active seed companies in the region, both homegrown and international, less than half of the 23 companies researched conduct plant breeding in Western and Central Africa. This limits the release of new varieties adapted to the region, and explains the high number of varieties that are older than five years offered in company portfolios.

Oladunni said the success of Nigerian seed companies during the survey shown that the nation is making progress in the agricultural sector.