Getting quality seeds for 2018 rain-fed farming
One of the challenges confronting Nigerian farmers is access to quality seeds, which is key to good yield.
At the moment, most Nigerian farmers use grains instead of certified seeds from reputable producers. This has kept the average yield in most of the crops below the global average.
However, that is about to change as some seed producers said they have stretched their reach to cover more farmers in the 2018 farming season.
Dr Mahavir Singh, Head, Seed Division, WACOT Ltd, Funtua, Katsina told Daily Trust in a mail last week that the company has taken further steps to reach more farmers in 2018 compared to the 2017 season.
He said: “Nigerian farmers are widely dispersed and distant from the towns and cities where accessibility of quality seed and reach by companies is difficult, so WACOT is supplying seed directly to farmers through an outgrowers programme. Last year WACOT supplied seeds to 25,000 farmers for maize, soybean, rice and sesame crops.
“This year we are targeting more farmers and planning to distribute the certified WACOT seeds to 35,000 farmers directly.”
Dr Singh reiterated that WACOT’s objective was to provide farmers with good quality and certified seeds at affordable prices and close to their doorsteps.
He also said that WACOT has over 1,500 agro dealers directly involved in seed sales across the country. “We understand the farmers’ needs and based on our marketing strategies they are met. We have high yielding varieties, nutritional, rich varieties (enriched with Provitamin A), drought tolerant and also resistant to virus and fungal disease,” he added.
He noted that the company recommends and distributes seeds based on the agro climate to enable farmers get more benefits. Varieties such as drought tolerant and early maturing seeds are recommended for Sudan Savannah areas like Kano, Jigawa, and Sokoto. “At the same time we are recommending disease resistant and Striga weed tolerant varieties in the southern region,” he also said.
On its part, Premier Seed Nigeria Limited, which started in 1994 and is involved in research, production and marketing of seeds of hybrid and open-pollinated maize, rice, sorghum, millet, soybean, cotton, cowpea, groundnut and assorted vegetables (exotic and local), said they are ready to supply quality seeds this wet season.
Afolabi Samson Oluwaseun, Manager, Research & Development Premier Seed Nigeria Limited, Zaria, Kaduna State, also told Daily Trust through a mail that they are prepared to reach more farmers this year.
“In preparation for the incoming season of 2018, the company has produced about 18,000mt of certified seeds of various crop varieties for the wet season. They are currently available for sales and distribution in the incoming season (2018).
“The seeds have been tested, processed, graded and well packaged in different sizes and ready for deployment across the different states in Nigeria. They are treated with potent crop protection chemicals such as insecticides and fungicides for healthy growth and development.
“All our seeds are high yielding and resilient to several biotic and abiotic factors that constrain grain production,” he said.
According to him, some of the products they have include drought tolerant, heat tolerant and Striga resistant maize varieties (Oba Super 11 and Oba Super 9); Pro-vitamin A maize varieties (Oba Super 6 and Sammaz 38), quality protein maize varieties (Oba 98) and other varieties with salient and desirable features (Oba Super 2, Oba Super 4 and Oba Super 3).
Other crop varieties available are rice (both upland and lowland), sorghum, soybean, cowpea and assorted vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumber, watermelon and carrot. He said the seeds can be obtained from their zonal offices across 22 states of the country, from agro dealers and through their online marketing platform.
In the last two years, the National Agricultural Seed Council has more than 176,140 MT of seed that have been certified for 134 companies in the country.
Ironically, while the country’s farmers have limited access to certified seeds, Nigeria is said to be producing 75% of the seeds used in West Africa, according to the NASC Director-General, Dr Philip Ojo.
The council, which regulates seeds companies, ensures that farmers get quality seeds for planting.
Farmers can also take advantage of the research institutes close to them as most of them have good seeds but lack marketing networks that would bring them closer to the farmers.