NASC launches scheme to monitor crop variety adoption

The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) launched the “Institutionalizing Monitoring of Crop Variety Adoption using Genotyping Programme (IMAGE)” along four major crops which include maize, cassava, cowpea and rice in Abuja.

The programme will support inclusive agricultural transformation by providing insights and evidence for seed sector actors to enhance government agencies capacity, improve stakeholder coordination, and lead to better resource allocation for varietal development and commercialization in Nigeria.

The Director General of NASC, Dr Phillip Ojo stated during the Launch that it was necessary for misidentification of seed varieties or for planting, Policy formulation, food security and regulatory activities.

“Today equally marks the beginning of a new era in adoption of improved variety monitoring and reporting, the beginning of the process that will drive us through the much-needed shift from our traditional and largely inaccurate methodology for measuring farmer adoption of improved variety and how varieties turnover through time.

“Over time, studies of improved seed adoption in Nigeria are almost based on household surveys and are premised on the assumption that a farmer can accurately self-report their use of improved seed varieties.

“However, many studies have shown that farmers report of seed varieties planted, or whether the seed is improved or local are sometimes inconsistent with the DNA fingerprinting results of these varieties,” he said.

Nigeria Country Representative of the Agricultural Green Revolution in Africa AGRA) Dr Kehinde Makinde, said the programme will help Nigeria build a responsible seed system that will be able to respond to the needs of the farmers across the country.