Farmers need timely access to quality seed and other essential agricultural inputs to ensure optimal crop yield contributing to improved household-level food security. According to the International Seed Federation (ISF), “The world’s long-term stability rests on several pillars, one of which is food security. Seed is the starting point of the food system, and farmers everywhere depend on access to quality seed to grow healthy crops.”
However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “In many developing countries (including Nigeria), farmers have not yet been able to fully benefit from the advantages of using quality seed due to a combination of factors, including inefficient seed production, distribution, and quality assurance systems, as well as bottlenecks caused by a lack of good seed policy on key issues such as access to credit for inputs.”
To adequately address the issue of quality seed and its availability, IITA, under the Feed the Future Nigeria Integrated Agriculture Activity, established an effective partnership in September 2019 with the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC). The NASC agency of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) oversees the development and regulation of Nigeria’s seed industry.