By Olufunmi, Kano
The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), says it will partner with the Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG) and Harvest Plus to develop framework for National Seed Policy.
The Acting Director of the Council, Dr Isaq Khalid stated this at a two-day national seed policy implementation framework development workshop on Wednesday in Kano.
He said that it was imperative to prioritize policy that drive the system in view of the new technologies in agriculture.
Khalid said the seed industry was still evolving and being a critical input in enhancing agricultural productivity in Nigeria.
“The new 2022 seed policy was put in place to support Nigeria’s agribusiness investment activity to feed the future project.
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“The policy statement is aimed at achieving a robust National Seed System that enhances private sector participation in seed industry, and also define roles for public and private sector.
“This include liberalization of Foundation Seed (FS) production and marketing by private seed accredited enterprise,” he said.
According to Khalid, affixation of seed codex label in addition to the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) certification are tag to every seed package as a quality authentication tool.
He said the council has expanded its operations by deploying modern technologies, procurement of modern equipments, human and infrastructural capacity development as well as strengthened cooperation’s with relevant bodies.
The council, he said, encouraged youths and women participation in seed value chain from breeding to marketing.
Also speaking, the President of the NABG, Mr Kabir Ibrahim, said quality seeds lead to better yields, enhance food security and income for farmers.
Ibrahim, who was represented by Muhammadu Abubakar, said the NABG was fully committed to support implementation of the policy to foster growth and sustainability.
“We believe in transformative power of good policies and will continue to champion and support initiatives that promise to make a lasting positive impact on our agriculture and agribusiness sector,” he said.
On his part, Dr Yusuf Fua’d, Country Manager Harvest Plus, said the framework would strengthened the role of private sector and inter-agency collaboration for seamless seed policy implementation in the country.