The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) has conducted a refresher training course for Licensed Seed Inspectors (LSIs) on cassava varietal identification, seed certification systems, new methods in seed certification, usage of cassava seed tracker, data collection and reporting.

The Director General, NASC, Dr. Philip Ojo, while declaring the training open in Makurdi, Benue State, said the training is a re-assurance of BASIC II commitment to constant capacity building for LSIs and deep interest in the third party seed certification appraisal system to ensure is at par with international best practices.

Ojo who was represented by the Director, Seeds Certification and Quality Control, Dr. Ishiak Khalid, said the Council has inaugurated additional LSIs in Abia, Kogi and Oyo states to strengthen cassava seed quality assurances in these high cassava producing states.

He stated that the training funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was part of an effort to develop a sustainable and commercial model for cassava seed systems in Nigeria which will enable smallholder farmers to have unhindered access to high quality planting materials.

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Commending the Inspectors for participating in the scheme, he said their contribution since inception is noteworthy as it has added great value to the quality component of the BASICS II project.

“NASC is poised to expand the scheme beyond cassava into other grain crops which shows the high level of commitment of the government in development of the scheme.

“Once our world class Grow-Out-Test site in NASC headquarters is completed, samples of cassava stems certified by LSIs will be subjected to control testing and results will be compared with LSIs field inspection reports to assess your field inspection activities,” he said.

Speaking, Head of Germplasm Health Unit, KInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and head of quality component of BASIC II Project, Dr. Lava Kumar, said the third party seed certification is now gaining grounds in Africa as some countries in the continent have signified interest in adopting the model and they will be looking up to Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania as exemplars.

He added that third party seed certification is a key component of the BASICS II project and that the success of the second phase of BASICS II depends greatly on the success of third party seed certification.

While commending the LSIs for their impact on the BASICS project, he assured the project is greatly committed to strengthening their capacity on cassava seed certification system.

He however appealed to LSIs to double their commitment and deepen their knowledge on cassava seed tracker.