The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) is stepping up efforts to improve Nigeria’s cassava seed system, with a renewed focus on certification, quality assurance and access to healthy planting materials.
Fatuhu Muhammed, Council’s Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, said quality-assured planting materials are essential to raising farm productivity, strengthening farmers’ resilience and improving food security.
Muhammed spoke at a two-day training for Licensed Seed Inspectors (LSIs), Seed Certification Officers (SCOs) and cassava stem-cutting producers under the Programme for Seed Systems Innovation for Vegetatively Propagated Crops in Africa (PROSSIVA), held in Abuja from August 26 to 27.
Unlike crops propagated primarily through conventional seeds, cassava is largely reproduced vegetatively through stem cuttings. This means diseased or poor-quality planting materials can carry problems from one production cycle to another.
Dahir Rabiu, NASC Project Coordinator, warned that the use of infected stems could facilitate the spread of diseases while reducing yields and farmer incomes.
He said ensuring that farmers have access to healthy, true-to-type and certified planting materials must therefore remain a priority.
The Council said inspectors and certification officers have a critical role in maintaining standards, while stem-cutting producers are responsible for ensuring that sufficient quantities of quality planting materials reach farmers.
Muhammed urged cassava stem producers to see themselves as seed entrepreneurs with responsibilities beyond making profits.
“Your priority should not be profit alone, but also the production and distribution of certified quality seeds to farmers,” he said.
He also warned that the credibility of Nigeria’s seed certification system would depend heavily on the professionalism, technical competence and integrity of those responsible for inspection and certification.
The Council’s position is particularly important as it expands private-sector participation in seed inspection and certification. NASC said greater private-sector involvement must not come at the expense of national standards.
The Council disclosed that it had developed, validated and gazetted three regulations aimed at strengthening the country’s seed regulatory framework.
They are:
- National Harmonized Plant Varieties (Registration and Release) Regulations, 2025;
- National Early Generation Seed Production (Liberalization) Regulations, 2025; and
- Third-Party Seed (Certification) Regulations, 2025.
According to NASC, the regulations are intended to strengthen oversight and improve quality assurance across the seed industry.
But regulations alone will not solve the problem. The Council acknowledged that their effectiveness will depend on how well producers, inspectors, researchers and other stakeholders understand and implement them.
