Seed sector can raise N2.2trn in 3 years – NASC

Director General, National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), Dr. Philip Olusegun Ojo, has revealed that the seed sector in Nigeria is capable of generating N2.2227 trillion in three years if the potential in the sector is properly harnessed.
Speaking yesterday at the maiden edition of the Seed Connect Africa Conference and Expo 2018 in Abuja, Ojo said it will require 10,355 metric tons of Early Generation Seeds (EGS) to produce 918, 743 metric tons of Certified Seeds which will in turn produce 103, 079, 253 metric tons of food from 46, 250, 733 hectares for the next three years.
This, according to him, will in turn add N2.2227 trillion to the economy and employ 18,500,293 farm families along agricultural value chains.
He also disclosed that the National Seed Bank was being established at the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) to preserve genetic diversity of the store seeds.
“This will give NASC opportunity to collect and store all released varieties of different crops in the Seed Bank. Also, ambient temperature room has been installed to preserve the seeds for a very long time and serves as a fall back in case of any disaster or emergency,” he said.
Launching the innovations, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, stated that the federal government is scrapping the Jonathan-led administration’s Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) and will be replaced with Agricultural Inputs and Mechanisation Services (AIMS) for effective service delivery to farmers across the country
Ogbeh said the essence of AIMS was to cut huge cost incurred involved in GES, which the Jonathan administration left a debt of N67 billion owed agro-dealers, and that has been a huge burden on the shoulders of the government, although agro-dealers under GES are being paid their debt.