Farm yields and productivity in Nigeria remain a challenge for millions of smallholder farmers, and an important component of this is seeds. Philip Olusegun Ojo, director general, National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), while responding to BusinessDay’s interview questions by Caleb Ojewale, addressed some of the issues surrounding farm productivity.
Farm yields in Nigeria for different crops have often been ranked among the lowest in the world. As the person in charge of changing this, how would you describe the current situation in seeds and farm productivity; say over the last five years?
Farm yield in Nigeria is dependent on numerous factors chief of which is the genetic ability of the seed as well as agronomic factors. Furthermore, what comes to mind is how much of “seed” farmers are using in Nigeria. The bulk of our crop production is still dependent use of farm saved seeds partly due to the lack of awareness on the need to use quality seeds. Over the years we have done a lot to educate our farmers on the need to drop their own saved seeds and use quality seeds purchased from reputable and approved sources. We have also in collaboration with the National and International Agricultural Research Institutes made effort to inject quality early generation seeds (Breeder and Foundation Seeds) to ensure that certified seeds available to farmers are of the best quality that are superior to their own saved seeds. The changes can be seen in the level of increase in the quantity of seeds produced over the years.
There is a Seed Bill yet to be signed into law, but, in what ways will it change the industry in Nigeria?
The amended bill has been drafted to accommodate recent developments in the seed industry which is a very dynamic industry. Provisions have been made to further support private sector participation in the industry with the inclusion of very stringent penalties that will help dissuade miscreants from engaging in seed business in the country.
How many seed producers are in Nigeria, and of course recognised?
Officially we have about 157 companies already licensed with 92 others awaiting Ministerial or Board approval. An additional 63 companies are awaiting the recommendation of the National Committee on Seed Company accreditation.
How many of these seed producers are indigenous (local companies) and more importantly, what needs to be done by these indigenous companies to improve their capacity for high quality seeds development?
Of the number mentioned above, only about 10 are not indigenous companies. The indigenous companies need to enhance their human, technical and infrastructural capacities to enable them produce quality seeds which will win the heart of farmers. They also need to step up their financial base so that they will have enough capital to buy back their quality seeds from contract growers who at most time can sell seeds as grains to highest bidders after harvest if companies are not coming to buy on time.
Over the years the seed industry processing capacity has increased by 40% with many companies migrating from manual processing or the use of government-owned-facilities to process their seeds to actually acquiring their own state-of-the-art modern seed processing equipment. This development must continue in other for companies to produce quality seeds.
We hear of fake seeds every now and then, so we’d like to know how much success has been recorded in eliminating the proliferation of these kinds of seeds. Some examples will be good.
Enforcement of seed law has never been better and the Council is no longer seen as a regulator that cannot bite. We have recently enhanced our enforcement arm with the inauguration and equipping of Thirty-Five (35) additional Seed Inspectors across the country who are saddled with the responsibility of carrying out regular sensitization of stakeholders and enforcement of relevant seed standards. For the first time in the history of the seed industry, three (3) seed companies were delisted from participation in the GES in 2014. We equally took some offenders of the seed law before the Magistrate court in Kakuri, Kaduna and the case ended in favour of the Council with the culprits charged for conspiracy and forgery and subsequently sentenced to 2 years’ jail term with option of payment of fine in the sum of N50,000 each.
Also, in 2017 another action commenced against two other suspects at Chief Magistrate Court Sabon Gari, Kano. They were charged for conspiring and forging Premier Seed’s packaging material and NASC Certification tag and were sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment with option of payment of fine in the sum of N100,000 each.
Series of educational enlightenment and sensitization, including market surveillance are conducted, culminating in market raids for sale of fake and adulterated seeds by unscrupulous seed dealers. This is conducted before and during the (planting) season to rid the markets of fake seeds.
How would you describe the ways fake seeds impact on farm productivity in Nigeria?
Farmers’ productivity is greatly impacted by the sale and use of fake or adulterated seeds. Spurious seed dealers involved in the sale of adulterated seeds to unsuspecting farmers are a big challenge to the seed industry. Their activities are a disservice to the nation, as they rob unsuspecting farmers of their increase in productivity and further make farmers to have a wrong impression of good, quality seeds. We are currently making efforts to curtail these activities through seed market sensitization, surveillance and seed law enforcement.
Can you share with us, some notable innovations in seed technology in recent years?
Worth mentioning is our effort to deploy information technology to assist us in our work with the introduction of what we call the cassava seed tracker and finally the Nigerian seed tracker. This will involve the use of mobile technology in carry out our seed certification duties. We are also moving away from our normal visual observation in conducting field inspection to a more reliable diagnostic observation through the use of molecular biology. We are just concluding the installation of the first molecular diagnostic laboratory for seed certification of cassava in our Sheda Complex.
I want to narrow down to Soybean, Maize, Rice, Sesame, and Tomatoes. What has either been done or being done to develop improved seed varieties for these crops?
A lot has been done for maize, rice and soyabean. We have a well-developed seed system for the three crops, with an array of stress tolerant materials already released to help farmers cope with climate change and other challenges. Sesame is following also. For Tomato which is a vegetable crop, most of the seed needs are met by imports from outside the country, and we are doing a lot to ensure that only accredited persons or organizations are permitted to bring seeds into the country.
We are also working closely with the mandated research institution(s) and the private sector to ensure that we step up production of tomato seeds and other exotic vegetables in Nigeria.
Are there any other specific crops you want to share as examples?
I will like to talk about our efforts in developing a seed system for yam. The Nigerian seed sector recently scored a first, this time not only in Africa but in the entire world when we successfully multiplied breeder seed yam into successive classes in collaboration with some private seed companies. This has introduced into the agricultural system for the first time certified seed yam thus creating a formal seed sector for yam. This feat was achieved in conjunction with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture’s YIIFSWA Project.
Also, the groundnut seed system has been strengthened greatly through an intervention project, “Groundnut Upscaling Project of ICRISAT” where NASC is a lead implementer. The hitherto groundnut seed multiplication chain which had broken down has been resuscitated with a sustained production of early generation seeds for certified seed production. Seed companies have now entered into groundnut seed production and marketing.
Apart from seeds, what other factors do you think are responsible for the low farm yields recorded in Nigeria?
Apart from sowing quality seed which accounts for 50% of the farm yield, the proper use of other inputs including fertilizer, agrochemicals, water management, good agronomical practices and low adoption of modern technology and its knowledge are also responsible for low farm yield in Nigeria .
Any other thoughts or comments?
The Council is seriously pursuing the vision of making Nigeria a hub of activities for the seed industry in West Africa. We have a vision to transform our complex to a center of Excellence for Seed Industry in Africa. We also have a dream of establishing model seed markets or depots in the remote centers of the country in partnership with stakeholders who share the same vision with us. We believe that just as you can get a depot for beverages and soft drinks in remote places across the country, the possibility exist to partner with the private sector and others to establish seed depot of model markets across the country that will bring quality seeds to the door step of farmers and not farmers searching all round for where to get seeds. I want to also use this medium to tell farmers and all seed users that the Seed Council is just a phone call away from them any time they have any issues or challenges on seeds they should not hesitate to ask through our Call Centre and Farmers Helpline. The number to call is 07000073337/070000SEEDS.
