Agriculture
NASC trains officers on digital seed certification, onboard pilot license seed inspectors
The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC)has improved the capacity of 25 newly engaged officers on digital seed certification using the National Seed tracker platform.
This is even as the Council has onboarded the licensed Seed Inspectors in some selected pilot states.
Giving his opening remarks at the two-day training workshop on digital seed certification, the Acting Director General, Dr. Ishiak Othman Khalid, said the council is committed to building the capacity of newly recruited certification and scientific office with deep interest in the digital seed certification appraisal system to ensure the system is at par with international best practices.
He said the Council is committed to ensuring that seed companies have the best-improved productivity, increased competitiveness for their seeds in the global seed space, and increased crop yield to compete in the international space.
“Our fundamental focus as a Council is on progressive strengthening and transforming of the practices of stakeholders in the seed value chain, such that the value creation at each level of the chain creates enough vested interest for all players to keep the system going.
“As part of our commitment to ensure national food security through agricultural sustainability and development of the seed industry in Nigeria, the Council has a world-class molecular diagnostic facility which can detect pathogens, variety identification using SSR markers, train purity testing, zygosity test, transgenic detection in GMOs among other tests using diagnostics tools.
The national Seeds tracker is an ICT solution to integrate supply chain functions and life seed systems to the Next Generation. Its vision is to organize seed production information, enable seed quality monitoring and certification, and empower every seed value chain actor to foster sustainable seed production for high productivity and profit.
Also, the Director, of Seed Certification and Quality Control, Ubandoma Mohammed, said the training aimed to enhance the capacity of the newly employed staff, so they would be able to fit effectively into the workings of the Council.
“WE are moving with time due to the technology of the time, we are training on digital seed certification using the national seed tracker. We have gone ICT and our report is partly being covered by our staff on the field using ICT. This training is not only for our staff, we are scaling it down to other stakeholders and the seed companies too.
“The training is very important because the President has declared a state of emergency on the food sector, therefore tasking the Ministry to ensure food availability. As we are speaking now the ministry has commenced distribution of inputs to farmers.
These inspectors are those that would go to the field to ensure that what is been planted are good and that they are seeds the farmers can use to get a good harvest.,” he said.
Agriculture
Shaping youths’ perception of Agriculture through Agrovest reality TV show
Joel Ajayi
The Agrovest reality Television show initiative aims to influence and change the way young people think about agriculture, redirecting a positive mental attitude .
Reality TV shows are TV programs where ordinary people are filmed in real life situations rather than actors.
Shaping ,implies molding or forming a new perspective of Agriculture on the minds of youths will go a long way in bringing about a change of attitude among young people.
Dr Emmanuel Abuhson ,CEO Tremma Agro Limited and the initiator of the Agrovest reality Television show says Agrovest reality TV show seeks to challenge negative stereotypes and misconceptions about agriculture among young people and showcase the exciting and rewarding aspects of agriculture.
One thing that stands out for the show is the trend of making agriculture attractive to the youths while giving them a positive and constructive perception of agriculture .
Abuhson said this during a stakeholder meeting held in Abuja that the word Agrovest has been coined from two word meaning Agro from agriculture and vest from investment (Agrovest) .
37 boisterous young Nigerians would be selected from the 36 states and will be competing for a 60-day periods in a Agrovest reality TV show between the ages of 18 to 40.
He said that each of the 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, will have one representative each. Which will make a total of 37 boisterous young Nigerians that will be competing in the
Agrovest reality TV show.
He said Agrovest is an edutainment TV reality show’s that its objective is to change the narrative in the agricultural sector.The show is a comprehensive agriculture training, advocacy and mentoring program delivered on an entertainment platform.
“These representatives from each state will showcase creative ways of exploring the agriculture industry, commercial insights and more .
“ The representative from each state will live and work together as a team on various agricultural chores that would be given to them during the competition.
“ This is where the commodities association comes in ,they will be training the participants on various agriculture commodities and will also form part of the judges to select who emerges the winner(s)as the case might be,” he said.
He also said that the selected participants will be required to complete all of these duties tasks over the course of the 60 days period and the winner will walk away with a N20 million cash reward and other consolation prizes that we will shortly disclose soon.
“ The idea is an effort to support our efforts in the food sector, innovation, and food security narratives across the country, shifting old viewpoints and making agriculture really appealing. Thereby gaining youth participation in agriculture,” he added.
“ This is in alignment with the President’s vision to ensure food security and the food crisis we have in all over the world.
“ I commend the support and commitment of the stakeholders including the Ministry of Agriculture and all our partners who are working day and night to make this project a reality.
The Presidents of various commodities including soursop, bamboos ,sesame were present at the first stakeholders meeting held in Abuja.
The Office of Senior Special Assistant
to the President on Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation ( HAPA) are in Collaboration with AgroVest TV Reality show.
Others partners are the Ministry of Agriculture, commodity association and other agriculture stakeholders across the country and globally.
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