By Stella Odueme
The Director General, National Agricultural Seeds Council, NASC, Hon. Fatuhu Muhammed has stressed the significance of seed technology in addressing food security challenges and promoting sustainable agriculture in a rapidly changing global food system, saying that Nigeria’s agricultural productivity remains far below its potential.
Speaking at the
official launch and Stakeholder engagement of the proseV Project in Abuja on Thursday, he said the seed sector in Nigeria, while making strides in recent years, continues to face numerous challenges of inadequate access to high-quality seeds, low adoption rates of improved seed varieties, and an underdeveloped seed regulatory system.
Muhammed said as the primary input in the agricultural production process, seed holds the potential to unlock vast improvements in productivity, adding that variety adoption have numerous benefits to farmers, agricultural industries and the environment.
He identified some benefits as; increased crop yields, climate resilience, pest and disease management, improved nutrition, and sustainable agriculture among others.
“In the face of the present continuous growth in global population, seed technology will definitely play a critical role in addressing food security challenges and promoting sustainable agriculture.
For many years, one of the most persistent gaps in agricultural planning and agribusiness development has been the lack of reliable information on which varieties farmers are actually growing and how those varieties perform after release,” he said.
According to him, traditionally, varietal adoption has been assessed through farmer recall, visual identification, and administrative reporting and that while useful, these approaches often struggle to capture the complexity of farmers’ fields where recycled seed, informal exchange, varietal mixtures, and local naming practices are common.
Consequently, he said seed production decisions are made with uncertainty; with processors face inconsistent quality and volumes, while investors lack confidence in yield assumptions; and policy interventions are designed without robust evidence.
‘Closing this evidence gap is essential if agriculture is to function as a reliable foundation for agribusiness growth.
‘The concept variety adoption s an important practice that is capable of promoting sustainable agriculture through proper application of seed technology techniques with the ultimate aim of, improving crop yield thereby positively impacting agribusiness.
‘Quality seed development for adoption by farmers for increased productivity and income can be achieved through the application of biotechnology, genetics and other scientific methods,’ he stressed.
The DG harped on drastic measures towards achieving adoption of improved seed varieties as well as variety adoption data which he said is not merely descriptive, but strategic.
‘In this way, data transforms agriculture from a high-risk activity into an investable agribusiness enterprise.
NASC’s Experience in Crop Varietal Tracking and Monitoring
Distinguished guests,
Nigeria is not starting from scratch in its efforts to understand crop variety adoption and performance. Over the past few years, the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) and in collaboration with national and international partners, the NASC has been implementing the Institutionalizing Monitoring of Crop Variety Adoption through Genotyping (IMAGE) Project.
‘The IMAGE Project represents a paradigm shift in how variety adoption and post-release performance are measured. Rather than relying solely on farmer recall or visual identification, IMAGE applies DNA fingerprinting to scientifically determine:
which varieties are actually grown by farmers,how widely those varieties are adopted, and how varieties move across the seed system—from breeder seed to farmers’ fields.
‘This science-based approach provides three critical attributes that modern agribusiness systems require:
accuracy, objectivity, and
credibility.Building on this foundation, Nigeria has gained substantial experience in post-release crop varietal tracking and performance monitoring across key crops.”
