Leadership (Abuja)
Grace Azubuike
12 November 2009
Abuja — As part of its commitment to encourage the development of the seed industry, the federal government has approved a 50 per cent subsidy support policy for improved seeds to resource poor farmers across the country. The Chairman Board of National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), Dr. James Angbazo, disclosed this at a field day on hybrid maize highway demonstration, seed multiplication and grow out test, yesterday in Abuja. Angbazo said that the National Food Security Programme (NFSP) was geared towards the availability and affordability of quality food to all Nigerians, and to achieve these objectives require a significant improvement in the nation's agricultural productivity which in turn is highly dependent on the availability of quality seeds of improved varieties. The Chairman added that the field day was aimed at promoting farmers' seed knowledge and empower them on seed issues, improve seed security, increase improved seed adoption and expand public awareness on the relevance of the usage of quality seed. "We all uphold the virtues of ensuring the use of high quality seeds that will increase productivity, promote food self sufficiency and food security". In his address, the Executive Director, National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), Chief Olasunkani Shobowale, stated that the field day was to apprise farmers about the sources or where they can buy improved seeds and what to look for when buying improved seeds. According to him,"Improved seeds give increase yields per hectare, make farming profitable and increase the wealth of farmers, limits the amount of fertilizer and give abundant yield. He gave instance of low Nitrogen maize that saves unnecessary expenses on pesticides, or even irrigation downy-mildew resistant maize, striga tolerant maize, drought tolerant maize and extra early maize.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
