Nigeria faces seed shortage as FG owes companies N13bn
Against the backdrop of a statement by the Director General of the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), Dr. Olusegun Ojo, who said, “A lot of seed companies have not been producing because of debts being owed them,” some major stakeholders of the seed subsector in Nigeria have expressed their views, most of them saying it will affect supply.
Reacting to the statement, President of the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN), Mr Richard Olafare, confirmed to Daily Trust that government was indebted to seed companies to the tune of N13bn for supply of seeds from 2015 to 2017.
“Government owes us over N10bn from 2015 to 2016, and then from the just completed dry season, government owes us N2.8bn,” he said.
He explained that initially the debt was about N16bn, but that government settled part of it, reducing it to about N10bn, adding that the N10bn debt was a backlog from the previous administration, while the present administration owed seed companies N2.8bn.
Olafare confirmed to our reporter that about 90 seed companies were involved across the country, who supplied seeds, including rice, maize, sorghum and soya beans within the period.
He criticised government for not settling the debt resulting in most seed companies not willing to supply seeds to farmers under the same arrangement.
In the same vein, Managing Director of Premier Seeds Nigeria Limited, Prof. Oyediji Ogungbile, confirmed that the Federal Government owed the company since 2014.
Meanwhile, Dr Mahavir Singh, National Manager of WACOT, a seed production and marketing company, also confirmed that the Federal Government owed the company N32m for supply of 81.5MT of Faro 44 rice variety to farmers in Sokoto State under the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of the Central Bank.
Dr Singh further revealed that his company would supply 400MT of hybrid maize and OPV maize under the Food Security Programme (FSP) to 13,000 registered farmers in Katsina State.
Additionally, Mahavir emphasised that the debt would hardly affect their production this year because they produced separately and did not rely completely on government.
He also confirmed to Daily Trust that there could be shortage of seed supply from companies because most of them were not producing to meet up with the increase in demand for quality seeds by farmers.
He attributed the rise in demand of quality seeds to the increase in economic strength of the farmers as agricultural produce from last year’s harvests were sold at relatively high prices thereby increasing farmers’ purchasing power.
On the other hand, the National President of Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria, Saleh Mohammed, said the issue of shortage of quality seeds was all over the world and not in Nigeria alone.
He lamented that no seed company in Nigeria had certified wheat seeds, adding that his association had to source foundation seeds from the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) in Maiduguri, Borno State.
“We don’t do multiplication because we don’t have the mandate to do that, the foundation seeds go directly to our farmers and we advise them to be saving their own seeds in case of eventuality,” he added.
Mohammed disclosed the association’s plan to source seeds from alternative sources in order to have reliable supply of certified wheat seeds.
Reiterating, President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabiru Ibrahim, an architect, noted that with Nigeria having over 40 million active farmers, out of which 14.5 million had been captured under the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) of the Federal Government, seed shortage might likely only be faced by the captured farmers and not the remaining 26 million.
“I’m not sure there’s anything like seed shortage, but we do not have good quality seeds in Nigeria,” he reiterated.
He implied that the statement made by Dr Olusegun Ojo was likely referring to the 14.5 million farmers covered under the GES programme and not unregistered farmers in the country who had been using saved seeds year in year out.
Meanwhile, the Director of Farm Input Supply at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ohiari B. Jatto, an engineer, said the Federal Government was aware of the debt and was making plans to clear the backlog soon.
“I can’t say when that would be, whether tomorrow or next tomorrow, but the Federal Government is committed to clearing the debt; we are working on it,” he said.