Council Allays Farmers’ Fears On Certified Seeds

The National Agricultural Seeds Council says efforts are being made to allay the fears of local farmers yet to fully embrace the improved seeds which the Federal Government is providing.

The Director, Seed Information and Capacity Building at the council, Mr KehindeAdelugba, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Abuja recently.

The Tide reports that the seeds are given free of charge as part of the Growth Enhancement Support scheme under the President Goodluck Jonathan’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda, which seeks to revitalise the agricultural sector.

Many farmers yet to totally embrace the improved seed have been encouraged to do so, to boost crop yield through the use of upcoming pest-free, flood and drought-resistant seedlings.

“The problem is inadequate extension services; because the farmers are not aware, if the benefits of a particular crop is not demonstrated to them, they will keep up with what they have been doing before.

“In the past, in the North, most of the farmers didn’t use fertiliser because of the fact that they said fertiliser would destroy our land.

But now when the issue of fertiliser has been demonstrated, farmers now go to any extent to get fertiliser in order for them to be able to produce their crop.

“It’s the same thing that we are doing also with seed; because we found out that farmers think that their own seeds are better than the one they have.

“There is need for greater awareness in terms of demonstration; let farmers know what are the new innovations for production and let them be able to accept it.

“It is only when they are aware of something that they can accept it.

“That is what we are doing, carrying out demonstrations for farmers to be able to know the advantages of using improved seeds better than the one they are having.”

Adelugba further assured farmers that the council was capable of guaranteeing quality seeds through its well-trained staff, building capacity and ensuring collaboration with seed agencies in developed countries.

“The issue of capacity building is very important because seed all over the word is always improving.

“There are new innovations; there are new technologies coming into seed development and we need to keep abreast of what is happening in other countries.

“It is what you learn from other countries that will be able to benefit you; if you don’t try as much as possible to learn from what other people have learnt, you will be left behind.

“So, we try as much as possible to build the capacity of our staff.

“We build their capacity through training, study tours and attachment to some developed seed industries for them to be able to learn what is happening.”