Nigeria through the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) is seeking to become a full-scale member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to enhance seed export.
Director-general of NASC, Dr Philip Ojo, who stated this at the workshop on international OECD seed certification in Abuja said Nigeria joining the organisation will be able to key into the international seed trade for seeds to be sold internationally.
Ojo noted that the country will no longer be dumping ground for seeds of all sorts from other countries, as soon as she becomes a member.
He added that no seed company will be able to dump adulterated seeds in Nigeria.
“The OECD scheme is an international organisation in the seed trade that we are joining, we have observer status now, we are trying to become a full scale member, so that our products will be able to key into that international seed trade.
“With what is going to happen now, our seed is going to be sold anywhere, and also, our seed companies will be able to sell their seeds and increase income and economic prosperity for our country.
“After the training, the international experts will look at our facilities, and with that, we will pass all that it takes. We are all out to ensure we key into all those schemes around the world so that we can be at par with our colleagues all over the world.
“This is the first step in the training, we are the regulators, after this, there will be a series of training, we are going to cascade this training to other levels. we are training seed inspectors and seed certification officers, they will now be the one to cascade the training to other stakeholders”, Ojo added.
