Sustainable improvement of crop productivity is dependent on seed varieties that have been adapted to all types of environment. This is one area that the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) Nigeria has invested in to improve food productivity and turn around the fortunes of farmers. DANIEL ESSIET reports.
Earlier this year, farmers in Benue State suffered crop loss attributed to the poor quality seeds. Some of them in Otukpo Local Government Area lamented that they did not get high yielding seeds, fertiliser and other inputs. They blamed the poor harvest of crops on the government agricultural representatives who, in their estimation, are not doing enough to distribute inputs through the right channels.
Despite that, the state received good rainfalls, the farmers recorded poor harvest. Some of them complained of inability to access necessary inputs for high yield production. But, the State Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Aondona HembeKule, attributed the poor harvest to lack of adequate inputs at the disposal of the commodity farmers, saying: “They (farmers) couldn’t collect their inputs this year. There was a communication gap between the commodity farmers association and AFAN. We are doing everything to bridge the perceived gap so that it doesn’t happen again.”
Of the many factors that keep small-scale farmers poor, quality of seed may be the least understood. A lot of local farmers have been given seeds that promise high yields but fail to produce enough. Sometimes, the results are disastrous.
President, Federated FADAMA Community Association, Lagos State, Alhaji Abiodun Oyenekan has experienced it.
He said there was a time he was using local seeds. Yields were very low. When new varieties came in, he took advantage of it.
To him, the huge adoption by small farmers in Lagos has resulted in very high yields. In terms of productivity, he said improved seeds can make a world of difference for small farmers. This is enough to lift farmers out of poverty.
For instance, some farmers get one to three tonnes but with improved varieties they get five to six tonnes per hectare. For him, local seeds are major barriers to agricultural growth. This is because of low yield.
While he owes his present success to improved seeds, the challenge, however, is that improved seeds are not enough to supply the millions of farmers who need them.
Presently, 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.
In an interview with The Nation, the Farm Manager and Agric Technical Advisor, Kaboji Farms Limited, Niger State, Mr Kobus De Jager said the market lacked good hybrid seeds which is key to profitable commercial farming.
For watchers, poor seeds make it impossible for farmers to adopt the modern agricultural techniques that lifted millions of farmers out of poverty.
But an initiative hopes to change all that by enhancing farmers’ access to improved seeds.
With West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP-Nigeria)’ support, poor farmers will be able to purchase high quality seed of local food crops
The programme’s support for the nation’s fledgling private seed sector is part of its comprehensive approach to catalyzing change. This includes supporting the national agricultural research institutions, to develop improved varieties with higher yields to reach farmers. The step offers hope for small farms by helping ensure that new seed varieties with higher yields make it through the supply chain from breeders to farmers.
Speaking in a forum in Abuja, the National Coordinator, West Africa Agriculture Productivity Programme,(WAAPP),Professor Damian Chikwendu said breeders, industry, farmers and others are involved in the supply chain, it is the first viable system for getting a top-down view of where choke points stifle seed access.
With support from WAAPP, Nigeria is strengthening its seed systems as well as its research and technology transfer systems to make farming more resilient.
With the help of the West African Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP), some farmers have been able to revitalize their productivity through the planting of higher yielding varieties.
WAAPP sponsors research organisations to run experiments to develop higher yielding varieties. Farmers also benefit from training, study tours, knowledge exchanges between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) stakeholders, and equipment prototypes during exchange visits, all of which help strengthen their technical capacities.
Chinkwendu said getting improved seeds to small farmers is critical to raising agricultural productivity and reducing poverty.
He added that the main challenges facing the seed sector is equitable access to good quality seed due to poor infrastructure, poor market infrastructure and systems and a variety of logistical challenges.
To ensure farmers have access to improved and adaptable seed varieties, he said the programme was sponsoring the implementation of an effective breeding and seed systems approach across the country. He said the programme is promoting partnership to provide information and assist those who want to enter the seed trade sector.
With food demand increasing, reflecting a growing population and increased consumption, Chikwendu noted that a higher yields will be needed to meet this demand.
In a meeting with some Chief Executives of some Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs),Chikwendu said partnership with the ADPs would continue as long as WAAPP remained and expressed confidence that at the end of the programme, its impact would be felt by Nigerians.
Meanwhile, WAAPP-Nigeria has distributed over 125 bags of rice, sorghum and maize hybrid improved seeds to over 200 farmers in Gombe State for this year’s farming season.
Speaking during the distribution at Baure village in Yamaltu Deba Local Government Area, the Provost, Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin Kowa, Professor Fatima Sawa, said the seeds were freely given to the farmers.
“The seeds are improved, graded specifically for the Northeast ecological zone and from the reports we got from the farmers, the seeds are high-yielding and of better quality than the types our farmers were using before,” she said.
Sawa called on the farmers to use the seeds judiciously. “They should use them by way of planting them and observe all the agronomic practices in order to drive the maximum benefit from the seeds.”She said the college has signed an agreement with a pesticide company to supply the chemical directly to the college, which would sell the chemical to farmers at a subsidised rate.She said doing so will solve the problem of adulterated chemicals and eliminate middle men who might increase the price.
So far, WAAPP-Nigeria has signed partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with States Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs). The WAAPP-sponsored initiatives include Community-based Agricultural Seed Multiplication. The community-based seed multiplication initiation is aimed at contributing toward seed sufficiency among rural farmers in the country.
To this end, WAAPP-Nigeria has already invested in the production and supply of foundation seeds for cassava, maize, rice, sorghum, and yam to ADPs in states. WAAPP’s commitment involves covering the cost of the agricultural seeds, the farm inputs, farmer training, technical assistance, and a mandatory inspection regime by the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), as part of the processes for the production of Certified Seeds which will be available for farmers’ during the farming season. The state ADPs are technical partners in the community-based seed multiplication initiative.
The Programme Manager, Agriculture Development Programme, Abia State, Mr Eyinnaya Elekwachi, said the local farmers are benefitting from improved seeds given by WAAPP, adding that they enhance their productivity and make farming a better business in the state.
Speaking with The Nation, the WAAPP Desk Officer , Abia State ADP, Mrs Nnenna Uche said farmers in the 17 local government areas of the state have benefitted from high yielding seeds.
These include certified rice, maize, yam and cassava seeds to enable farmers increase their productivity. The seeds, he said were made available to farmers through innovation platforms.
The seeds were freely given to the farmers and they are of better quality than the local types they were using before.
According to the Chairman, Cassava Value Chain Innovation Platform, Abia State, Kalu Iche Kalu, several new cassava varieties have come from collaborative breeding efforts supported by WAAPP and improved varieties resulting from such works have doubled average crop yields.
Kalu said the impact is great, yielding enormous returns for agro businesses.
Consequently, he said, cassava is one of the most dynamic sub sectors in the state, helping to drive industrial development while delivering higher incomes to investors. Under the WAAPP Nigeria Programme, the mandate, he said, is root and tuber, specifically yam and cassava. The platforms are in nine states and have given small holder farmers support on farm inputs such as fertiliser and the top five cassava varieties, including the pro-vitamin A umu-cass 36,37 and 38.
Under the WAAPP assisted project, he said the target in the first phase is to reach out to 300,000 farmers, and they have reached 167,000. “This year we are providing seven processing centres across seven states of which two are almost completed. Our target is to complete these processing centres before the end of May next year.
To experts, the seed industry is growing in many ways. But the level of investment in research and development, rate of annual yield gains and overall crop and seed values should be at equal levels. All these, they believe, will help to maintain growth while sustaining the environment, creating excitement, competition, investment and change in the seed industry.
