Make varieties available for multiplication within one year, committee advises breeders

The National Committee on Improved Varieties Release on Crops and Livestock has insisted that breeders must make their registered candidates available as foundational seeds for multiplication within one year after registration. This was the agreement reached at a meeting held recently in National Centre for Genetic Resource and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), Ibadan.

At the meeting, members of the committee presided over by Chief Oladosu Awoyemi and other scientists agreed that breeders must be very compassionate to ensuring that their registered seeds are made available to farmers within one year through National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) adding that the advice was in the interest of the breeders and the entire nation.

This issue was coming on the heels of concern raised by a NASC official Mr. E. J Zidafamor who complained that most breeders have not been complying with the one year release mandatory period of making available 50kg breeder seeds for multiplication and transfer to farmers, adding that only soybean from Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) Samaru, Zaria has complied while others like groundnut, sorghum and cowpea are yet.

Prof. S.G Ado of IAR lent his words saying that “one of the meetings here had once mandated breeders to always come with 50kg samples from the gene bank storage as presentation would not be allowed without provision of such” wondering why the directive had not been followed.

Responding to the issue, Prof. C.A Echekwu said that bringing samples of ‘candidates’ to be registered may be very inconvenient in terms of cost implications when approval may not be guaranteed adding also that the one year period may be too short, adding “by the time official approval is given by the committee, most of the breeders will not have more than 2kg of seeds that are considered as nucleus seeds. It is the nucleus seeds that will be used to produce the best breeder seeds. So the one year you are talking about does not favour breeders within the same season because we need enough nucleus seeds to be able to produce breeder seeds that we  will supply for this multiplication for foundational seeds.’’

Speaking, the registrar, NACGRAB Dr. Sunday Aladele differed, saying that one year should be sufficient for breeders to ensure release for multiplication noting that “breeders must have high degree of confidence in their work towards approval and registration” citing  the ‘maize people’ who normally get prepared within the one-year period.

Dr. Aladele who frowned at delays experienced in getting approved varieties to farmers said that “if I am bringing something to the table, I should have 75 per cent confidence. That means I should have reserved some quantities in case I passed or failed like the maize people normally do. As they are dropping for NACGRAB, they are making arrangement for NASC. We cannot wait till eternity. Some of the complaints we are getting is that you registered materials and four years is yet to get to farmers’’.