Seed council licenses 15 inspectors in Kogi
The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) has trained and commissioned 15 Licenced Seed Inspectors ((LSIs) for cassava in Kogi State. While addressing the inspectors recently in Lokoja, Kogi State, during a refresher training supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Director General of NASC, Dr Philip Olusegun Ojo, said the inspectors were the […]
The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) has trained and commissioned 15 Licenced Seed Inspectors ((LSIs) for cassava in Kogi State.
While addressing the inspectors recently in Lokoja, Kogi State, during a refresher training supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Director General of NASC, Dr Philip Olusegun Ojo, said the inspectors were the captains of cassava seed quality, and that they must continue to discharge their responsibilities diligently and must not be found compromising quality.
He assured that once the council’s world class grow-out-test site in the headquarters was completed, samples of cassava stems certified by the inspectors would be subjected to control testing and results compared with field inspection reports to assess their field inspection activities.
Ojo, who was represented by the Director, Seeds Certification and Quality Control, Dr Ishiak Othman Khalid, said the three-day refresher training was a re-assurance of BASIC’s commitment to constant capacity building for seed inspectors and deep interest in the third party seed certification appraisal system to ensure the system is at par with international best practices.
He said, “So, today we will be retraining you on cassava varietal identification, cassava seed certification systems, new methods in seed certification, usage of cassava seed tracker, data collection and reporting, etc. I have been informed that the number of applications for Commercial Seed Entrepreneurs in Kogi State is on the rise, and this means you may be having added responsibilities.
“Let me also inform you that we have inaugurated additional LSIs in Abia and Oyo states to strengthen cassava seed quality assurances in these high cassava-producing states, and NASC is poised to expand this scheme beyond cassava into other grain crops.”
He further informed the inspectors that the guideline for authorising private certification agents in Nigeria had been forwarded to other stakeholders within the seed industry and that once the document was finally ratified by the governing board of NASC, it would be made available to stakeholders and would serve as “your guide as it relates to third party seed system which also includes the private laboratories.”