The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) is to organise the 2018 Seed Connect Conference and Expo, as part of efforts to boost agricultural productivity and encourage farmers to use quality seeds.
Dr Olusegun Ojo, Director-General of NASC, made this known in Abuja on Friday at a news conference on the conference.
He said that the conference, which would hold between June 5 and June 6, was expected to facilitate the development of a holistic, pragmatic and sustainable roadmap for the strengthening the country’s seed industry.
Besides, Ojo said that high-quality seeds would be produced for Nigerian farmers and others from neighbouring countries because Nigeria produced between 50 and 60 per cent of the seeds used by farmers in the West Africa sub-region.
“The conference is a rebrand of the usual national seed planning event, organised by NASC, which brings key stakeholders to review activities of the previous year and draw plans for the current year.
“The conference will bring together stakeholders, including donors, researchers, policymakers, development partners, academics, farmers’ organisation and industry end-users, among others.
“This will, however, improve the national economy because we will be partnering with the private sector to generate revenue for the country and the farmers at large,’’ he said.
The director-general said that at the event, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, would launch the Seed Call Centre/Farmers Helpline.
He said that the helpline would serve as a platform to address the concerns of farmers and the general public on seed-related matters.
Ojo said that the conference would attract international seed companies that would exhibit and showcase their seed varieties in the country.
“I am sure that about 10 international companies will be present and this is an opportunity for our seed sector to learn and address some of the challenges facing the sector to enable us to give excellent service delivery.
“I, hereby, invite all stakeholders, knowing that seed is the most essential link in any crop value chain, and the strength of this link determines the strength of the entire value chain in the country,’’ he said.
He underscored the need to promote standards and quality control in the agriculture because of the fact that it was more beneficial to consider agriculture as business.
“Therefore, the tools for doing the business ought to be of good quality,’’ he added. (NAN)
