The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) in Nigeria and the Liberian Government have announced plans to organise a two-day business summit that would revolutionise Africa’s seed industry.
The summit with the theme, “Building a Harmonised Roadmap for Seed Sector Transformation,” is scheduled to hold on March 25 and 26, 2024, in Monrovia, Liberian.
It is targeted at establishing an economically sustainable seed system for priority crops like rice, cassava, maize, soybean, and aquaculture.
Agricultural development agencies, researchers, and policymakers from Liberia are organising a summit to draw a seed road map for the West African country.
The consortium included the Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System, Phase 2 (BASICS-II) project of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), AfDB-funded Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) of IITA, the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) in Nigeria and the Liberian government.
The County Director of SAA-Nigeria, Godwin Atser, said factors limiting growth in Liberia’s agricultural sector include the underdeveloped seed sector charaterised by poor quality seeds, a weak seed regulatory framework, a struggling research system for variety maintenance, and a feeble private sector participation in the seed system.
