There is a growing business opportunity for suppliers in Nigeria’s seed industry currently estimated at N777.4 billion as Nigeria attempt to feed its 200 million people.
Nigeria’s seed demand has been estimated to be above 350, 000 metric tons yearly by the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC,) with current production less than a quarter of the national demand.
To this end, millions of smallholder farmers in the country do not have access to quality seeds and seedlings of most grains, legumes and tree crops grown in the country – a situation experts say has made Nigeria’s average farm yield far below the global standard.
“Inadequate access to quality seeds is the major problem facing Nigeria’s agriculture today. Most of the seeds in the market are imported because we do not produce enough of the seeds farmers need for farming,” AfricanFarmer Mogaji, chief executive officer of X-Ray Consulting Limited said.
“Our population is growing fast and farming population is increasing daily but the seeds farmers need to feed Nigerians are insufficient because the level of investment in the seed industry is still low despite the huge demand,” Mogaji said.
“We need to bridge the seed gap to achieve food security.”
In 2015, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture estimated Nigeria’s seed industry to potentially stand at N777.4billion and local production at N252.3 billion, thereby leaving a N525 billion seed gap.
Experts suggest that the figure may have risen by 15 percent or more given the numbers of new entrances of farmers and population growth rate.
Nigeria is populated by 190 million people who must be fed with staple foods ranging from yams, rice, cassava to beans, bananas, and tomatoes and the seeds to do this should be made available, experts say.
The total national requirement of seed need for eight major crops including maize, rice, and cowpea in Africa’s most populous nation stood at 388, 690.64 metric tons (MT) in 2015, while the quantity available was 126,173 MT, leaving a yawning gap of 262,517MT.
Femi Oke, chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos chapter called on the private sector to drive investments in the country’s seed industry to prevent the demand-supply gap from further widening and creating a fertile ground for the proliferation of unregistered operators to flood the markets with fake and poor quality seeds.
“We have a shortage of seeds in virtually all crops today and this is why most of our markets are flooded with fake and adulterated seeds,” Oke said.
He stated that the huge demand for seeds in the country is an opportunity for seed firms to invest in hybrid seeds.
Since 2012, the number of private seed companies in the country has increased and experts say it is an attestation of the enormous potential and vat business opportunities yet unexplored.
Some of the seed companies in Nigeria today are Premier Seeds Nigeria Limited, Maslaha Seeds Nigeria Limited, West African Cotton Company Limited (WACOT), Notore Seeds Limited, Candel Seeds Limited an Alheri Seeds Limited.
However, most of the seeds found in the Nigerian markets are adulterated, as the federal and state governments show no interest in investing in the seed industry.
Despite the country’s large size of agriculture in relation to other African nations, Nigeria lags behind its peers in the sector in terms of agricultural research funding.
As a result, farm yields have remained low, making experts attribute it to the scarcity of quality seeds and seedlings in the country, which they stated has forced farmers to buy cheap and adulterated varieties that produce lower crop yields.
We need to prevent the gap from widening further to prevent the fertile ground for the proliferation of unregistered and incompetent operators who flood the market with fake and poor quality seeds.
Nigeria produces nearly 70 percent of seeds used in West Africa but still faces a huge seed gap.
