IITA–CGIAR, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS), launched a cassava seed quality self-compliance reporting module on its SeedTracker platform in Abuja on 3 April. This new module enables cassava seed entrepreneurs (CSEs) to report on the quality and condition of seed production fields.
The three Institutions are collaborating under the BASICS project, which aims to integrate the cassava seed value chain to produce and deliver high-quality seeds of improved cassava varieties at affordable prices.
Speaking at the launch at the IITA Abuja campus, Virologist and Head of IITA Germplasm Health Unit, Lava Kumar, said the new module aimed to establish sustainable and profitable customer seed enterprises in Nigeria. According to him, 30 cassava seed entrepreneurs who have been producing cassava seed for the last five years have been identified to train to pilot the scheme and learn how things work at the ground level.
Lava said the self-compliance module would also enable cassava seed entrepreneurs to periodically report on the quality of their seed fields so that NASC can monitor in real-time what is happening. There will be spot checks by the inspectors, who will compare their assessments with the farmers’ assessments. This will encourage quality seed production of vegetatively propagated crops such as cassava.
In his opening address, NASC Director-General Dr Phillip Ojo said, “With the growing population of over 210 million Nigerians, there is a need to invest in innovation that would help boost agriculture.”
He appealed to cassava seed entrepreneurs to adopt all the new measures that NASC has set in place for their benefits which will contribute towards producing quality seed in sufficient quantities and making profits from sales. Ojo expressed satisfaction with the collaboration NASC has had with IITA over the years, thanking Kumar, particularly for his all-time commitment.
Earlier, the Director of Seed certification, Dr Ishiak Khalid, promised to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure improved quality seeds reach the hands of farmers to boost food sufficiency.
Catholic Relief Services representative, Musa Dunga, mentioned that step-down training would be conducted on the field to augment the CSEs’ capacity to adopt the self-compliance module.
On the need to be certified, project consultant Prof Lateef Sanni said, “You cannot get quality seeds if you are not certified as a seed producer.” He urged seed producers to ensure the certification process is seamless and timely by contributing to the process.
The event included the hands-on practice of seed quality self-reporting using SeedTracker, hands-on training in the cassava field, detailed discussion with some of the CSEs who took delight in sharing their experiences over the years, and ended with a presentation of certificates to CSEs
Contributed by Terngu Abur
Contributed by
Recent stories