More seeds availability expected as researchers train seed specialists

An increase in seeds availability is expected as researchers from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) have trained seed production specialists/managers and technicians of private seed companies.

The training, according to a statement by IITA, is on how to produce and market seeds of improved crop varieties, and is part of efforts to boost farmers’ yields through availability and use of quality seeds with funds from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

The plan is to develop the critical human resource that will catalyse in the production of improved seeds, and at the same time make the seeds available and affordable to farmers. At a three-day workshop held this month, participants from across Nigeria were more interested on improved production techniques for maize and soybean seeds, and cassava planting materials by the researchers. The training upgraded the knowledge and updated the skills of participants on the production and marketing of quality seeds and planting materials.

The resource persons included Baffour Asafo-Adjei, a consultant with the IITA-AGRA foundation seeds project, IITA scientists in maize and cassava programmes, an IITA economist, Joshua Femi Olonilua, the director for quality control at the NASC, and others.

Asafo-Adjei noted that “seed production is a serious business which needs proper planning in order to make quality seeds available to farmers at affordable prices.”

The participants also got educated on the best environments in Nigeria for production of good quality seeds of maize and soybean, and planting materials for cassava. They also learnt about best practices for production of open-pollinated and hybrid maize seeds, soybean seeds, and cassava stem cuttings. The resource persons on marketing treated participants to innovative marketing strategies to adopt in order to satisfy their customers’ need for quality seeds and make reasonable profits for their companies.

Olonilua spoke on the procedures involved in seeds/planting materials certification in Nigeria. According to him, before seeds are certified, the NASC must ensure that the seeds meet all the set quality and purity standards based on field inspections carried out before planting, at flowering, and at harvest. This is followed by physical quality tests and purity tests that are conducted after seeds have been processed. These include laboratory tests for moisture content, seed purity, germination percentage, and the absence of pests and diseases, he explained.

Participants were also taken through practical training in pollination techniques in maize, how to identify off-types in seed fields, uses of global positioning systems (GPS) equipment in agriculture, especially in surveys and mapping, and the rapid multiplication of cassava stem cuttings.