From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Director General of the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), Olusegun Ojo, has assured farmers of the agency’s determination to tackle the issue of fake seeds.
Ojo, who spoke at the 4th edition of SeedConnect Africa, yesterday in Abuja, appealed to farmers to always buy seeds from licensed marketers in order to boost yield.
He added that the agency has been able to introduce plant variety protection (PVP) law in Nigeria (PVP Act 2021) which started in 2018 shortly after the first edition of SeedConnectAfrica 2018.
“I am happy to announce that Nigeria now has a Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Law, and we are making efforts to complete Nigeria’s membership of the international union for the protection of new plant varieties (UPOV).
“At this juncture, I want to congratulate Ghana for beating Nigeria to UPOV Membership. We have also developed regulations and we are currently setting up the PVP Office.
“The amendment of the NASC Act with the introduction of stiffer penalties and solid foundation for the introduction of technology to police the Seed Industry.