NASC,PERL-Advocacy group partner to enhance seeds’quality

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 The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) and Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learning (PERL) advocacy group have agreed to work together in principle towards ensuring formulation of appropriate policies and effective performance to make the sub sector work efficiently for national food security.

The Director General of NASC, Dr. Olusegun Philip Ojo said the council would be ready to work with the group saying the partnership couldn’t have come at a better time that there was need to sensitize on the new varieties of improved seeds availability for off-takers.Giving his side of promise to the advocacy group yesterday, on behalf of the management.

Ojo who was represented by the Technical Adviser to the Director General (DG), Mr. Folarin Okelola pointed that the council is doing a lot to ensure standard practice in the sector with other partners added a lot has been achieved even with very limited fund as he also agreed that more are needed to be done with external support of outsourcing certification policing  in view of limited man power of the council. He however promised to relate all the group discussion with the DG, Dr. Olusegun Ojo who was on official assignment and looking forward for further engagements.

 PERL advocacy group on quality seeds distribution to farmers has gone for formal dialogue routine of  partnership and engagement that will further galvanized a better reformed and standard demand driven sub sector seeds productivity for food security with NASC.

The group led by National Coordinator, Mr. Celestine Okeke had intimated the NASC management some of the areas of challenges facing the farmers in the process of access to quality seeds and its timelines. Among the issues is the need for the improvement on NASC“Helpline”, partnership with Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) towards ensuring standard, certification to community seeds, andwhat is the level of NASC involvement in the International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) programme which was generally described as efficient on quality transfer of certified seeds to farmers within the space of time needed.