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GIZ Equips 60 Cassava Commercial Seed Entrepreneurs to Boost Production
29 April 2015, Ubulu - Uku, Delta State, Nigeria. Cassava stems varieties being processed with required quantity and mixture of pesticide to ensure improved value cassava cultivation.
Gilbert Ekugbe
The GIZ-funded Cassava and Maize Value Chain Project (CMVCP) has empowered over 60 cassava commercial seed entrepreneurs in Ogun and Oyo States as part of efforts to revamp the seeds system to boost cassava production in Nigeria while also creating job opportunities in local communities.
The project, which is under the Green Innovation Centers of GIZ, was created in response to the economic fragility due to COVID 19 pandemic that hurt the seeds system of several crops including cassava and the livelihoods of millions of farmers especially women and youth that depended on the root crop.
Using the BASICS model, researchers screened and selected the commercial seed entrepreneurs and linked them to IITA GoSeed, an early generation seed company at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for the procurement of healthy cassava seeds of improved varieties.
“We are glad that the project is establishing a sustainable seed system for cassava in these key states (Oyo and Ogun), serving as a model to other states,” said the IITA Project Leader of the CMVCP, Mr. Godwin Atser.
The prices of cassava stems rallied from N400 to a record high of N1,500 per bundle during the last planting season, which was partly driven by increased demand for improved varieties from growers and disruptions caused by COVID-19.
The CMVCP, by working with resource-constrained farmers, has facilitated the planting of over 1.2 million of improved cassava cuttings on 60.95 hectares.
The IITA Component Lead for Cassava Seed Systems, Dr. Mercy Diebiru-Ojo, said the intervention offered hope for increased income and food security in the cassava sector in Nigeria.
The Project Support Officer, IITA, Mr. Patrick Akpu, attested to the farmers’ joy when full packaged trainings were conducted.
Akpu said: “The farmers applauded the project as one of the best things that has happened to them as it is very practical and involving.
In 2020, demand for improved disease-free cassava stems was between N6 billion to N10 billion after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approved the use of improved stems.
Mrs. Esther Solomon, one of the cassava seed entrepreneurs who is growing Foundation Seeds said investment in cassava seeds makes a good business decision for cassava farmers.
