The Federal Government of Nigeria has assured that
it will dismantle all bottlenecks which stand in the way of growth of the seed
industry in Nigeria, NaijaAgroNet reports.
This disclosure was made recently by the Permanent
Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Sonny
Echono, at the launch of the Nigerian Chapter of the Alliance for Seed Industry
in West Africa (ASIWA) in Abuja.
Echono, NaijaAgroNet gathered, said that
efforts must be made to identify relevant issues and remove all bottlenecks to
the smooth growth of the seed sector in order to make quality seeds available
to farmers.
He disclosed that the Federal Government was
planning to train 100 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members to ensure
production and marketing of good quality seeds by various seed producers.
The permanent secretary said that the Federal
Government had also sanctioned by de-listing some seed companies, who supplied
adulterated and poor quality seeds to farmers, NaijaAgroNet learnt.
“To
achieve the laudable objectives particularly in the seed sector, it is
imperative that the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) as the government
agency responsible for seed industry development must be fully supported to
perform. NASC must come out with specific recommendations, to create a sound
level, sustainable dissemination and strategies for improved crops to resource
poor farmers in the country,” Echono stated.
For the country to achieve the objectives of
the Agricultural Transformation Agenda launched in 2011, he said, it was
necessary to provide the right policy to protect seed production, NaijaAgroNet learnt.
Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE
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