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Nigeria’s over 60 million metric tonnes yearly cassava output, which remains the largest in the world, is being boosted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Despite accounting for approximately 20 per cent of global cassava production, Nigeria’s cassava seed system is bedeviled with low yield of smallholder farmers, among other challenges.
As Nigeria continues to fashion out ways to improve on food production and be self-sufficient along various value chains, The Building an Economically Sustainable and Integrated Cassava Seed System, Phase II (BASICS-II) project, Tuesday, held the first Cassava Seed Business Summit 2021
Efforts to develop cassava seed system would help Nigeria to transform cassava and meet the growing demand for cassava seeds of about N10 billion from growers, experts from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) and National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) have said.
In 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria-midwifed a programme to develop cassava seed growers on 100,000 hectares across the country, created a huge demand for improved and disease-free planting materials that surpassed supply.
“Last year, the demand for certified cassava stems from cassava growers was estimated at N10 billion. Unfortunately, this opportunity was not fully taken by farmers as it was difficult to get certified stems of improved varieties,” Dr Alfred Dixon, IITA Director for Development &Delivery, who led a delegation of experts, said during a visit to the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Muhammad Nanono, in Abuja recently.