Mr Babatunde Obilana has urged the Federal Government to train more breeders for the 13 staple crops to enhance their production and food security in the country.

The 13 staple crops are : cassava, vegetables, yam, maize, cocoyam, cowpeas, beans and sweet potatoes.

Others are millet, plantain, banana, rice and sorghum.

Obilana, who is the team leader for Sorghum Transformation Value Chain in the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.

“It is only qualified breeders that can produce seeds of the purest level of 99.9 per cent,”’ he said.

He said the danger of farmers planting seeds that were not from breeders was that the quality and integrity of such seeds would not be maintained, while the yield would be poor.

“The certified seed will be done effectively and efficiently by the private seeds sector,” Obilana said.

He said the Seed Policy Enhancement in African Region (SPEAR) project had provided technical assistance and resources to breeders.

Obilana said that the project would enable systematic production of breeder foundation seeds with in-built reward to the developers of the seeds.

He explained that SPEAR project had assisted and had been a resource avenue to the breeders, foundation producers and the seeds sector.

“The project has also introduced seeds breeders to the licensing policy which has not been in use in Nigeria before,” he said.