National Seed Platform: Prioritizing Investments in the Nigeria Seed Sector

Nigeria-Netherlands: Plant Variety Performance Trials in the Seed Sector

The Collaborative Seed Programme (CSP) on September 29, 2022, facilitated a webinar for plant variety release stakeholders to discuss performance trials in the Nigeria and Netherlands seed sectors. The session featured keynote presentations by Professor O.O. Olufajo of the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria – the Chairman of the Nigerian

Tricot: A better method of on-farm crop testing

The NextGen Cassava Breeding project, the IITA Cassava Breeding Unit, and Sahel Consulting organized a triadic comparison of technologies (Tricot) workshop with the Nigerian variety release committee recently. Sahel Consulting works with the Nigerian Variety Release Committee, through the Collaborative Seed Programme (CSP), to innovate the procedures and approaches used to enable variety release. The workshop proposed employing Tricot as

National Seed Platform: Webinar on the SEEDCODEX in Nigeria

The Collaborative Seed Programme (CSP) held its quarterly seed platform meeting on the 26th of April, 2022. The webinar is part of the programme’s strategic pathway in establishing and institutionalizing a functional national seed sector platform to improve sector coordination and governance. The quarterly seed platform meeting reviews and discusses emerging topics relevant to improving

The Collaborative Seed Programme Conducts Due Diligence Visits to Seed Companies

The Collaborative Seed Programme (CSP) team, in partnership with the Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN), conducted due diligence visits to 15 seed companies in Kaduna and Kano states. This is part of an evaluation process designed to select ten (10) innovative Nigerian seed companies that will receive technical and financial support for crop variety

Extension on Seed and Cultivation Practices Topic Conducts First On-station Demonstration for Farmers

On the 4th of December 2021, the Extension on Seed and Cultivation Practices topic held its first on-station demonstration at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. The training involved a varietal demonstration of improved nursery production on vegetable seedlings compared with conventional practices using local varieties of tomatoes and cabbage. The training had in attendance a

Baseline Assessment of the Crop Variety Release and Registration System in Nigeria, Phase I

An effective and efficient crop registration and variety release system is crucial to the growth and development of Nigeria’s agricultural sector. The system ensures that only high-performing and well-adapted varieties enter the seed sector and become available for multiplication and marketing to farmers for food production. The current process and procedure to release new varieties

The Collaborative Seed Programme (CSP) at Seed Connect Africa 2021

The Collaborative Seed Programme (CSP) was once again in the spotlight, this time at Seed Connect Africa 2021. The event organized by the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) and its partners, is the single largest gathering of seed sector stakeholders in West Africa. This was the fourth edition of the event hosted in Abuja, Nigeria

Piloting of the Upgraded Seed Tracker Kicks Off with the Training Of Nasc Officers

On the 7th of December 2021, a total of fifteen (15) seed certification officers from the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) gathered at Sarina suites and Apartment, Kano to understand and assess the upgraded National Seed Tracker. The National seek tracker is a software that collects and organizes seed production information, making it easier for

Call for Expression of Interest from the Collaborative Seed Programme. Nigeria-Netherlands

Collaborative seed programme reaches out to Nigerian seed companies with an ambition to promote improved varieties and quality seed for field crops. CSP offers an opportunity for seed companies to engage in CSP to motivate and to convince farmers that are using improved varieties and quality seeds brings direct benefit to the farmers in terms