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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Director-General of the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), Olusegun Ojo, has assured farmers of the agency’s determination to tackle the issue of fake seeds.
Ojo, who spoke at the 4th edition of SeedConnect Africa, yesterday in Abuja, appealed to farmers to allows buy seeds from licensed marketers in order to boost yield.
He added that the agency has been able to introduce plant variety protection (PVP) law in Nigeria (PVP Act 2021) which started in 2018 shortly after the first edition of SEEDCONNECT AFRICA 2018.
“I am happy to announce that Nigeria now has a Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Law, and we are making efforts to complete Nigeria’s membership of the international union for the protection of new plant varieties (UPOV).
“At this juncture, I want to congratulate Ghana for beating Nigeria to UPOV Membership. We have also developed regulations and we are currently setting up the PVP Office.
“The amendment of the NASC Act with the introduction of stiffer penalties and solid foundation for the introduction of technology to police the Seed Industry.
“The Introduction of a Turn-Key Electronic Seed Authentication System tagged ‘SEEDCODEX’: SEEDCODEX
enables farmers and other seed users to instantly verify the authenticity and genuineness of every seed container, pack, or bag before use by simply scratching the silver panel and texting the hidden number to 1393,” he said.
He explained that, the sender will receive an instant message confirming the genuineness of the Seed pack. With this, farmers are sure of using the right seed which has passed through the quality assurance processes of the NASC.
“The current review of the Seed policy with the support of USAID Feed the Future.
“Our efforts to trace and track variety adoption through the introduction of DNA fingerprinting technology under the IMAGE project with our partners: Context Global Development (CGD), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) to mention but a few.
“Diagnostic Certification and Set up of Molecular Facility: In line with International Best practices, the NASC has upgraded its certification process by commencing diagnostics certification.
“This is to ensure viral free planting materials for vegetatively propagated materials.”
