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By Chinyere Anyanwu
The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to train 2,250 Community Based Seed Entrepreneurs (CBSE) in the North-east Nigeria.
Funded by USAID, the project targets to improve seed production and marketing in four intervention states of Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe.
The project is also aimed to facilitate the formation of these CBSE into 150 community-based seed enterprises cooperatives.
At the signing ceremony in Abuja, NASC Director General, Dr. Olusegun Philip Ojo, said the council will work with different partners to ensure that farmers have access to good quality seeds.
According to him, the council will continue to expand the collaborators to position the seed sector as centre of excellence for seed industry in West Africa.
He said, “IITA has been a good partner as we have been able to partner on several projects such as seed codex, among others. And the community seed project is very dear to our hearts because the seed companies alone cannot take care of all the seed needs of farmers and the need to ensure that farmers at the downstream and local level have access to the best of genetics.
“And that is what the programme is addressing, especially in the North. Seed is a game changer in agriculture and it would be good if the project can be replicated across the country to make seed available for the farmers at the grassroots.”
Also speaking, IITA chief of party, Prakash Kant Silwal, said through its North-east regional office, it has collaborated with the activity to train 1,937 Community Based Seed Producers on improved seed production and marketing techniques in Adamawa and Borno states between 2020 and 2022.
