The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammad Abubakar has said the growth of the agricultural sector would be truncated without a proper structured seed system to support the industry.
Abubakar said lack of quality seed may hinder the country from its quest to attain food security.
The Minister disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at the 4th Edition of SeedConnect Africa Conference and Exhibition with the theme ‘Partnership for a Resilient and Robust Seed Industry in Nigeria’ organised by the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC).
He stated that the importance of seed in achieving a sustainable Agricultural revolution is sacrosanct.
He said the government is building on past policies that rode on seed systems to achieve incredible impact on agricultural development in Nigeria.
According to him, “the growth of this sector would be hampered without a proper structured seed system to support the industry.
“Over time, we have agreed that seed is the starting point of any Agricultural revolution and a panacea for food and nutritional security. You will agree with me that food Security is hinged on seed security, and seed security is hinged on rock-solid seed systems.
“To fast-track development of Agricultural value chains, improve the efficiency of delivery of seeds and other agri inputs, and enhance productivity, we have launched the National Agricultural Growth Scheme and Agro Pocket (NAGS&AP) Implementation and Technical working committee”.
He however called on stakeholders to join forces with the government together to build a strong and sustainable seed delivery system.
In his remarks, the Director General of NASC, Dr Philip Ojo highlighted some of the achievement of the Council to include, development of the NASC Electronic Survey Tool (NEST); a data capturing, and analytical tool hosted on Google play store and accessed by any android device which is deployed for data generation, analysis, and knowledge sharing.
Ojo said the amendment of the NASC Act with the introduction of stiffer penalties and solid foundation for the introduction of technology to police the Seed Industry was also part of the achievements of the Council.
“Over the years, Nigeria’s seed system has benefited immensely from SeedConnect Conferences.
“Nigeria is now a member of the International Seed testing association (ISTA) – and our Central Lab is currently undergoing ISTA Audit for it to become an ISTA accredited laboratory”, Dr Ojo added.
He said the Introduction of a Plant Variety Protection (PVP) law in Nigeria (PVP Act 2021) started in 2018 shortly after the first edition of SEEDCONNECT Africa 2018.
“Today, I am happy to announce that Nigeria now has a Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Law, and we are making efforts to complete Nigeria’s membership of the international union for the protection of new plant varieties (UPOV)”, he said.
Dr Ojo further noted that with Council’s collaboration with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has been able to scale up Seed Market Surveillance and enforcement of Standards