Council set to distribute 81,000MT seeds

The National Agricultural Seed Council on Wednesday announced that about 81 metric tonnes of seeds were ready for deployment to farmers nationwide despite the COVID-19 lockdown in many parts of the country.

NASC’s Director-General, Philip Ojo, who disclosed this during a webinar in Abuja, stated that the council was doing all it could to ensure that farmers accessed quality seeds during the COVID-19 period.

He said, “The NASC is doing all within reach to ensure that seed sector-related activities are sustained and promoted even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic for Nigeria to be able to have a continuous supply of adequate quantities of food for its population.

“Today as I speak with you, the industry has available at the disposal of accredited seed companies across the country about 81,000MT of certified seeds.”

Ojo added, “The seeds include rice, maize, sorghum, soybean, cowpea, millet, groundnut, wheat, sesame and potato that are ready for deployment and purchase by farmers for the production of food and raw materials for Nigerians.”

The DG noted that as the industry was preparing to push the number of certified seeds to the market, companies, like every farmer, were also preparing to go to their fields to plant in order to have enough seeds for the next cropping season.

The NASC boss commended the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for ensuring that farmers and input suppliers moved freely during the lockdown.

“With the support, cooperation and understanding of the law enforcement agencies, the ministerial intervention will help agribusiness community greatly,” Ojo said.

He added, “Going back to the field for seed sector operatives has now become a challenge as the measures put in place to stop the spread of the virus are impacting negatively on the activities of the sector.”

He further noted that the COVID-19 outbreak had brought to the fore the importance of agriculture in sustaining the nation’s economy, adding that this had placed a huge responsibility on farmers

Ojo said, “The urgent need to replace depleted food stock as a result of the massive purchase and consumption is now staring us all in the face and we can only achieve this using high-quality seeds.

“To ensure that we clearly understand the challenges and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the seed sector, the NASC together with Wageningen University and Sahel Consulting introduced a survey (quick scan survey) commencing from the month of April to access first-hand the impact of COVID-19 on the seed sector.”

He said the scan had revealed key areas of alert that were most impacted by the COVID-19 and also recommended coping strategies that would guide future actions to ensure continuous supply of quality seeds to farmers.