For Bumper Harvests

Audu Ogbe, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh says there is need for farmers to use quality seeds to enable their crops grow better.

Ogbeh, represented by Mr Quadri Olalekan, gave the advice ahead of the second edition of the Seed Connect Conference scheduled for between April 15 and April 16 by the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) to create awareness on the need for farmers to patronise registered seed companies for their seedlings.

“It is important that farmer shun poor seed and get seed from certified vendors and we can guaranty them good produce,’’ Ogbeh said.

According to him, the ministry will provide every support needed to ensure that the perpetrators of fake seeds face prosecution under the seed law. The Director-General, NASC, Dr Philip Ojo reiterated the need for farmers to patronise registered seed companies for bumper harvest.

He, however, issued warning to fake seed merchants to desist from such act or risk being prosecuted.

According to Ojo, the 2019 Seed Connect Conference will bring together stakeholders from across and outside the country to deliberate on ways to strengthen the seed sector and provide solutions to some of their challenges.

He called on farmers and stakeholders to make judicious use of the golden opportunity by coming to learn how seed business was done in other countries to increase their production.

Dr Rose Gidado, Country Director, Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), said it is necessary for farmers to adopt the use of improved technology to ensure that they got increased production of food across the country.