The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) on Wednesday, commenced nationwide compliance inspection of seed companies in the country.

Philips Olusegun-Ojo, Director-General, NASC, who spoke shortly after the commencement of the exercise at the Premier Seed Company in Zaria, said it was targeted at ensuring the production of quality seeds.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inspection team, made up of directors, senior officers and other staff of the agency, was expected to go round the North-west.

The DG represented by Agbola Adebayo, Director, Seed Inspectorate, noted that the essence of the visit was also to ensure that Nigerian farmers get quality seeds for their money.

“These are companies that are registered, recognised and accredited by NASC and the exercise is headed by the Director-General himself, Dr Philips Olusegun Ojo.

“We take instructions from him and from time to time he gives us directives on what to do.

“The main aim of this inspection is to ensure that all seed producing agencies roll out quality seeds to all the numerous farmers in Nigeria.

“The only way to achieve that is to make sure that we are on their neck to ensure that all the processes of quality seed production are followed through to the latter. That is what we come to ensure,” he said.

He said the inspectors were on the field to ensure that none of the stages in the production of quality seed was omitted.

“If farmers get top quality seeds, we are sure that the yield will be high, the income will be more, standard of living will be high and Nigeria will be better for it.

“Even in terms of Growth Domestic Product (GDP), it will be better, remember that, the seed council is the only agency in Nigeria saddled with the responsibility of regulating the seed industry.

“So, it is our mandate to make sure that all the players in the seed industry work within the seed rules and regulations,’’ Mr. Olusegun-Ojo said.

He said that there were a lot of penalties for defaulting companies, and gave assurance that the exercise was just the first round of the 2018 inspection exercise.

He said the council has the right to seal-off premises of any defaulting company, and confiscate any adulterated seeds offered by such companies.

“The council also has the right to prosecute any of the erring seed companies. We are empowered by the law to actually sanction these people.

“But we believe in dialogue and that is why we are doing this and the moment they are sensitised enough, we hope that the right thing will be done,’’ he noted.

Mr. Olusegun-Ojo appealed to Nigerian farmers to embrace the use of improved seeds to boost productivity and enhance national food security.

Rwanda, Mali Lead Africa In Fight Against Hunger

Nigeria’s effort in tackling hunger and poverty have been rated far below average because the country has not effectively implemented the various Agricultural policies and conventions it entered into. (Africa Fight Hunger)

A 2017 report from Malabo Biennial review cited Rwanda and Mali among others as leading in the fight against hunger in the African continent having scored 6.1and 5.6 respectively out of the required minimum threshold of 3.9 per cent of the maximum 10 per cent benchmark commitment to the implementation of the Malabo Declaration on Agriculture while Nigeria maintained a score of 3.4 per cent.

The Malabo Declaration as adopted by African Union Heads of state targets majorly an accelerated agriculture growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihood while setting seven goals towards the realisation of the mission

Regrettably, Nigeria has only been able to fulfil two of the seven goals which include commitment to CAADP principles as well as boosted intra-regional agricultural trade, which was why 20 per cents members of her population still suffer from hunger.

Addressing participants during a capacity building workshop on agricultural policy instruments organised by National Association of Nigerian Traders, NANT, President of the association, Ken Ukoha maintained that the agricultural sector provided a strong platform for job creation, economic diversification and poverty reduction, yet, various policies guiding the sector have not been given required attention.

Ukoha who identified some of the policies as the Agriculture Promotion Policy, Comprehensive African Agriculture Programme, ECOWAS Agriculture Policy and the National Agriculture Investment Plan noted that they were all tailored towards the realisation of the commitment of African Union Malabo Declaration on Agriculture.

More importantly, he noted that the policies which specifically seek to realise food security, sustainable development and poverty reduction in Africa suffered in this part of the world basically because most stakeholders including the media were not aware of the existence, contents, processes, implementation strategies and approaches, policy implications, challenges and the overall future and or benefits of these instruments.

“Perhaps, only a few people are aware of the commitments made by their governments in the agriculture policy instruments, and therefore little wonder nobody appears to be putting governments in check or holding them accountable. The result of these is continuous underdevelopment and aggravation of poverty.”

As a way forward, one of the speakers, an Economist with the ECOWAS, Dr. Manson Nwafor sought for effective implementation of policies, review and dialogue process in the Agric sector.

He urged Federal Government to consider allocation of 10 per cent budget to the Agricultural sector as agreed upon in the Malabo declaration.