Dry season farming is not part of budget – Seed Council Boss

Since inception, what has been the impact of the seed council’s activities on Nigerian farmers?Well, before the advent of the council, the farmers have been planting grains and planting grains has not yielded the expected results in agriculture. But since the council was established and we started handling the issue of seeds from quality breeder […]

Since inception, what has been the impact of the seed council’s activities on Nigerian farmers?
Well, before the advent of the council, the farmers have been planting grains and planting grains has not yielded the expected results in agriculture. But since the council was established and we started handling the issue of seeds from quality breeder seeds to foundation seeds and certified seeds, we now have what other countries that are using seeds are having in terms of yield. Before we started coordinating the seeds and seedlings, the national average yield of some of the crops was less than one tonne per hectare, but since we came in, the national average yield has moved to 3 tonnes. In fact, some varieties of rice now give us up to 6 tonnes.
The adoption rate of seed has also increased tremendously. The development partners from their survey said the adoption rate is around 12.5%, and they are trying to move it to about 25%. But today, with the Agriculture Minister, Dr. Adesina, and the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) that he is implementing, the adoption rate has moved beyond 25%. We are looking at 60 to 70% adoption rate now. All farmers are now trying to use improved seeds, and as they use improved seeds, they are getting better yield and their revenue is also increasing.
And, before now, some people were bringing materials that were not of good quality to the farmers to plant. So, we are also into surveillance to ensure that any company or individual that is involved in this quack or poor quality seeds deal is arrested and we impound those materials. In fact, we are legally backed to take them to court, like we did about a year ago when some people were arrested in Kano and taken to court, and they were sent to prison because of fake seeds.
How can a local farmer differentiate between fake seed and real one?
It’s very simple. Yet, it is not what the eyes can actually see and say this is seed, this is grain. The difference between seed and grain is a laboratory issue.  You have to subject it to laboratory test so that you will be able to determine the agronomic parameters of the seed. But how a farmer will be able to say this is grain and this is seed, is not easy. When they are going to buy from the agent, they must ensure some things: Any seed that is certified, there is what we call certification tag showing when it was planted, when it was harvested, processed and packaged, and when it was certified. All those things are in that tag and it is signed by our certification officer. So, if any farmer is going to buy anything called seed, the first thing he should look out for is the tag of the National Agricultural Seed Council. When that tag is there, that is the first step to confirm that it has passed through necessary stages.
What effort are you making to provide farmers with quality seeds for the dry season farming?  
The first thing we did was to register those that wanted to participate. Right now, we have about 700,000 farmers that we want to assist with inputs. These farmers will require 17,500 metric tonnes of seeds. The seeds are already there. When we realized that the quantum of seeds required for the ATA will be so much, the council moved from the initial 35 accredited producers to 75, and about 90 of them have applied again. For this year’s dry season farming, we are expecting to double what we did last year, because we were able to get over a million metric tonnes of grains.You see, the demand for rice for consumption has risen to 6.5 million metric tonnes and what we are producing is about 3-4 metric tonnes. So, the difference of about 2.5 metric tonnes is imported, costing us about N365 billion annually.
How has funding been?
I think the answer is very clear. Funding is very critical, but you see, the present administration has thought about this and put various packages together. Now, government is not the one funding agriculture. Agriculture is no longer a lifestyle, it has become a business. Now, with NIRSAL, our seed producers can go to the banks and get loans to produce, and the market is there. In 2012 we were able to recommend some of the producers to the banks and they got about N1.8 billion. The 2013 that just ended, we introduced them to the banks and they got about N3.4 billion to produce seeds.
Can you survive the cut in agriculture budget this year?
I agree with you that there was a serious cut, but they said they are going to look into it. But, you see, the man at the helm of affairs is not looking at what is coming from government. When you look at what is coming from banks, when you look at what is coming from development partners, then, you know that agriculture is actually getting a lot. Though, let me say, what is coming from government is insufficient. That is the truth, because the Maputo Declaration says agriculture must have 10% of the total budget, which should have given us more.
I want you to know that even this dry season farming is not part of the budget and the president is supporting it because, last year, when we requested for money from the president, he graciously gave us about N7 billion or N8 billion to do the job. This year, he is already promising and I am sure he is releasing over N9 billion for the dry season. The government is addressing other areas as well.
With all these interventions, many farmers across the country are complaining that they are being left out, why?  
I am happy you even raised it. Why won’t they complaint? The initiative is to take care of peasant farmers, the poor farmers. About 70% of the population are said to be farmers, and what government is doing is just to cater for 20% of the total farmers in Nigeria, farmers with one to two hectares. These are the bulk of the people producing the food that we are eating in Nigeria, not all these so-called large scale farmers. The large scale farmers should go into processing because they have the capital. Many of them are complaining because they are giving them two bags of fertilizer. Many of the complaints are political. They are capitalists and should use their money to do their job. We are registering more farmers to ensure we scale up the coverage. Every year we register five million farmers, but the issue is that government cannot take care of all of them at the same time. It’s going to be a gradual process.