Committee registers two, releases 18 seed varieties

A total of twenty (20) improved new varieties among which were two hybrids cotton from Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, were registered and released by the National Committee on naming, registration and release.

All the approvals to register and release were given by the chairman of the release committee, Chief Oladosu Awoyemi at National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) in Ibadan, last week Thursday.

Chief Awoyemi who said that two out of the 20 improved varieties brought forward were only to be registered and not for commercial release to farmers, disclosed that they were hybrid cotton named MAHYCO C 567 and MAHYCO C 57 from IAR in partnership with Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) as development partner in producing the cotton varieties.

 The committee also approved for release 18 other varieties as follows: two sweet sorghum varieties (Dansadau (SAMSORG 50 SW) and SAMSORG 51) both from IAR with high potential for bio fuel extraction and capable of being grown twice a year, for more sugar accumulation than sugar cane that can only be grown once a year.

Also registered and released were four (4) multi-purpose cassava varieties (UMUCASS 47,48,49,50)  and one (1) pound-able and eatable cassava variety  called UMUCASS 51, jointly released by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike to purposely allow farmers  have access to ecological varieties in terms of need for food security.

The presenter of the candidates Prof Chiedozie Egesi emphasized on the involvement of the National Cassava Growers Association (NCGA) in the naming of all the different cassava varieties as evidence of farmers’ involvement and its acceptability and marketability as UMUCASS 47 is called the Game Changer), UMUCASS 48 is Obasanjo-2, while UMUCASS 49 and 50 are ‘Hope’ and ‘Baba 70’, respectively by the farmers.

The University of Ilorin yellow maize variety (ILOMAZ 1) was released for commercialization to farmers based on its early maturing potential under on-farm supervision, with its resistant ability to termites, said Prof. S.A Olakojo who pointed out that it was a good material for breeders from Sudan area.

Also registered and released to farmers by the committee for their high yielding potential, pest and diseases resistance were two white maize hybrid candidates (SC 667 and SC 419) presented by Seed Co. Nigeria both of which came with an instruction that they must be locally produced to generate employment as its importation would not be allowed into the country.

In the same vein, IAR two hybrid maize, pro vitamin A SAMMAZ 59 and 60 were also released by the National Release committee to meet the food security challenges and the nutrient contents requirement of most food processing companies in the country according to Prof. D.A Aba who pointed out that the vitamin in the varieties was the selling point of the candidates even at their low yield of 5.0 ton per hectare, added that people were now more conscious of more nutritious foods at premium price.

Also, the SAMMAZ 61 with origin from IITA, SAMMAZ 62 and 63 also with the origin from African Agricultural technology Foundation (AATF/TELA Maize Project, Kenya) are said to have a high yielding potential of 8.0 tons per hectare with high protein nutrient that led to its approval for registration and release by the national committee.

The yam coordinator Dr. Jude Obidiegwu who presented three yam candidates that got registered and released said the new improved varieties would checkmate seeds scarcity often experienced by farmers during the planting season, saying  UMUDAa31 popularly known as wonder yam (Dioscorea alata) has been improved to become more pound-able and very marketable.  

He added that  UMUDr29 super and UMUDr30 (Nagode) both in the group of Dioscorea rotundata were all registered and released for farmers to ensure increased availability of productive and preferred varieties for seed multiplication, marketing and food security towards better economic earning in the country.

Mr. Olayiwola Agoro however wanted the report on evaluation of all the released varieties in the past so as to ascertain performance and level of the off takers and farmers’ accessibility for economic uses, thereby tasking the National seed Council of Nigeria to be up and doing in this capacity in order to keep the committee abreast of information in this regards.

Agoro said that ‘’ I remember the last meeting i attended that NASC was challenged to check the performance status of most of these varieties that have been released and confirmed whether they are already in the hands of farmers, and if not, they should know why they not there. I don’t know weather that has been done, and if they have not, then it is an opportunity to look at it. It is not enough for you to release new improved varieties without any translation to high productivity in the country’’

The representative of NASC, a director, Mr. Zadafamor Ebiarede Jimmy in his response told the committee that financial challenges has been a great constraint for the evaluation since we had once reported about twenty states here, thereby asking for permission to later bring an update in the next meeting.