Nigeria now export improved agro seeds to other W/ African countries—NASC


THE National Agricultural Seeds Council, NASC, has stated that Nigeria now export improved seeds to other West African countries, saying that over 70 percent of improved seeds used by farmers in the sub region comes from Nigeria.
South-South regional head of NASC, Mr. Mmoeyak Usua disclosed this in Yenagoa, yesterday during a one day sensitization and awareness workshop for farmers and stakeholders on the importance of improved seed in boosting agricultural productivity and farmers’ income.
He said the desire of the agency is to build a market driven seeds industry for the production and distribution of high quality seeds that will be available and accessible to all Nigerians in Nigeria and beyond.
To underscore the importance of the workshop to farmers, Mr. Usua asserted: “One of Nigeria’s greatest challenges today is that of low agricultural productivity which is largely due to low uptake and usage of quality seed of improved crop varieties with other related inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides.
“Good quality seed has been recognized as the most important input in boosting agricultural production and accelerating achievement of the National Food Security Programme. It has been estimated that over fifty percent of improvement in agricultural production come from the use of improved seed.


“In order to achieve the National Seed requirement estimated to be over 350,000 metric tons and also in order to attain the present administration’s effort in diversification of the economy from oil to agriculture there is need to educate and enlighten the various stakeholders in the seed industry so that seeds could be made available to our farmers.”

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