…as 2-day SeedConnect Conference Africa 2018
kicks off
By Gabriel Ewepu
ABUJA- THE Federal Government, Tuesday,
disclosed that the Jonathan-led administration
initiated agricultural programme, Growth
Enhancement Scheme, GES, will soon be replaced
with Agricultural Inputs and Mechanisation
Services, AIMS, for effective service delivery of
farm inputs to farmers across the country.
Ogbeh
This was made known by the Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu
Ogbeh, in his speech at the opening ceremony of
a 2-day SeedConnect Conference Africa 2018 in
Abuja.
The conference with theme, ‘The Nigerian Seed
Industry: Evaluating the Seed Sector and
Developing a Sustainable Framework to Bolster
the Growth of the Seed Industry’ has over 300
participants from Ghana, Niger Republic, Cote
D’Ivoire, Switzerland, and others, with over 26
companies showcasing their seeds.
Ogbeh said the essence of AIMS was to cut huge
cost involved in GES, which the Jonathan
administration left a debt of N67 billion owed
agro-dealers, and it has been a huge burden on
the shoulders of the present government,
although agro-dealers under GES are being paid
their money.
According to him while explaining about AIMS,
said will at the beginning have three trained
distributors of farm inputs in each of the 774 local
government areas, where farmers would access
farm inputs including fertilizers, hybrid seeds and
mechanization service.
He added that with AIMS fake seeds dealers
could be traced and dealt with according to law.
However, he acknowledged that the negative
effects of fake seeds have frustrated many
investors in the sector.
He said: “We are going to create a programme
called Agricultural Inputs and Mechanisation
Services, AIMS, we will name distributors in the
local government areas.
“The good seed companies we know will use
those distributors to sell those seeds to farmers
depending on the crops they are growing, if it is
rice, maize, sorghum or millet including soya
beans or beans.
“If the seeds fail on the farm the farmer will come
back to the distributor and also complain to us
then the Ministry will take the distributor up on
the matter. By that way we will know who is what
and who is doing what. The farmer does not lose
money.
“Lots of young people women, professionals are
going into agric and we don’t want people to go
spend and lose their money and go away
regretting, and that is the problem we have with
agric now, and I have had that bitter experience
after planting seed nothing grows. We hope that
Nigerians will cooperate.
“The distributors will be trained, they will have the
phone numbers of those producing the seeds,
addresses, and we too will know who they are
and what they are distributing and where so that
and there will be no question of buying stuff and
running away.”
According to the Minister adverts will be placed
on newspapers and people will apply as
distributors, and directors of agriculture at the
states, even local government chairmen will
know who is where, and there will be no question
of running away. He said they will be supported
by the Bank of Agriculture to enable them lend,
hire machines out, give seeds and give general
support, then government will train extension
workers to teach farmers on how to plant their
seeds.
In his remarks the Governor of Kebbi State,
Abubakar Bagudu, said the government should do
more to protect local seed companies with
favourable trade policies, and also task local seed
companies to partner with bigger and foreign
seed companies for a win-win situation.
“Seed companies should partner with bigger and
foreign seed companies for a win-win situation”,
Bagudu stated.
While speaking on the essence of the conference
the Director General, National Agricultural Seed
Council, NASC, Dr Philip Ojo, said the council has
done well and has been the leader in Africa and
pointed out that with Nigeria supplying 70 per cent
of hybrid seeds in Africa, a lot needs to be done to
boost it up.
Ojo said the seed industry in Nigeria has a lot of
challenges, therefore needs more attention which
include combating fake seed dealers, fund
constraints, capacity building, improved
infrastructure, quality control, inadequate
logistics, low quality seeds from some research
institutes, poor handling of breeder seeds,
inadequate personnel, inadequate seed testing
facilities, poor feedback from stakeholders,
inadequate training of seed producers, and
others. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/06/fg-to-replace-ges-with-aims-for-effective-farm-inputs-delivery/