DG Lists Gains Of SPEAR Project

The Seeds Policy Enhancement in African Region (SPEAR) project has enhanced policy implementation in the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), says Mr Olusegun Olatokun.

Olatokun, the Acting Director-General of the National Agricultural Seeds Council, said this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja recently.

Our correspondent reports that the SPEAR project was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to increase the number of improved varieties of seeds for smallholder farmers in order to improve their livelihood.

He said the project enhanced Public-Private-Partnership in the seeds sector and aided seeds commercialisation in the country.

He stressed that project had also provided policies being used under the Federal Government’s ATA, thereby helping to and realise the agenda’s goals.

The acting director-general said that one of the policies of the project was the licensing policy, which promoted, stimulated and facilitated seeds transfer to farmers.

“The licensing policy is the agreement between the research institute that gave out the seeds (licensor) and the company that received the seed (licensee).’’

“The project has also enhanced production and distribution of adequate, improved and quality seeds under the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme.’’

“If not for SPEAR, the seeds companies would have had a lot of challenges meeting the GES seeds requirement,’’ he said.

The Tide reports that the GES scheme is an initiative of the Federal Government aimed at subsidising the cost of major agricultural inputs such as fertiliser and seeds for farmers in the country.

The scheme aims to empower farmers to increase their yield and encourage a shift from subsistence to commercial farming, based on an electronic registration and validation process.

Under this scheme, the federal and state governments assist farmers to pay 50 per cent of the total cost of inputs while the farmer bears 50 per cent of the cost.

Olatokun said through the Genetic Access Transfer Scheme (GATS), the project ensured that private seed producers had access to adequate transfer supply of high quality seeds of improved cultivators.

The Tide reports that GATS is a policy instrument to promote, stimulate and facilitate genetic access and transfer of seeds to farmers.

Olatokun stated that the project increased the number of certified seeds companies in the county from 35 to 75 and that there were still about 90 awaiting certification.

He, however, expressed regret that all the SPEAR policies were not implemented in the country before the project ended in September 2013.

He said that the agency sector would work toward incorporating the policies that were left out in the country’s seeds policies.

The Tide recalls that the project was launched on December 2, 2010, in Malawi, Zambia and Nigeria.