The production of seeds for major arable crops in Nigeria increased to 149,484 metric tons in 2013, up from 4,252 Metric Tonnes in 2010, the Federal Government has said.
According to the government, the major arable crops include rice, maize, sorghum and soya bean, adding that the impact of the seed industry had been tremendous. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said national food production increased by an additional 21 million MT of food during the period of 2011 to 2014, surpassing the target of 20 million MT set for next year.
He spoke in Abuja on Monday during a seed retreat organised by the National Agricultural Seeds Council. Adesina, who was represented by his Technical Adviser, Dr. Martins Fregene, said, “There has been a quantum leap in organised seed production of major arable crops such as rice, maize, sorghum, soya bean, etc, from about 4,252MT in 2010 to 14,788MT, 44,487MT, and 149,484MT in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. “Nigeria met its Millennium Development Goal One of halving extreme hunger and extreme poverty, two years ahead of the 2015 United Nations target. National food import bill declined 40 per cent from $7bn in 2011 to $4bn in December 2013.”
The minister explained that the Federal Government had provided credit guarantee for seed companies to access financial lending from Deposit Money Banks for seed buyback from their out-growers at single digit interest rate. He said, “Bank lending to seed companies rose from about N1.895bn in 2012, N4.2bn in 2013 and over N6bn in 2014. Moreover, the value of seeds redeemed by farmers from the seed supplied by the seed companies under the Growth Enhancement Scheme increased from about N5.4bn in 2012 to about N10.4bn in 2013. “Some seed companies have taken advantage of this policy environment to expand their production and processing facilities such that Nigeria seed companies can be major players not only in the West Africa sub-region but also in the African continent in particular and the entire world in general.”
