The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) has intensified efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s cassava seed system through improved quality assurance, effective certification and wider access to certified planting materials.
The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NASC, Hon. Fatuhu Muhammed, said quality-assured planting materials were essential to increasing agricultural productivity, strengthening farmers’ resilience and improving food and nutrition security.
Muhammed spoke at a two-day training for Licensed Seed Inspectors (LSIs), Seed Certification Officers (SCOs) and cassava stem-cutting producers under the Programme for Seed Systems Innovation for Vegetatively Propagated Crops in Africa (PROSSIVA), held in Abuja from August 26th to 27th, 2026.
He said the Council had worked with development partners over the years to establish a sustainable and commercially viable cassava seed system, building on interventions under the Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System (BASICS) programme and PROSSIVA.
The NASC boss charged inspectors and certification officers to uphold professionalism, integrity and technical competence, while urging cassava stem producers to prioritize the production and distribution of certified planting materials rather than profit alone.
Muhammed disclosed that the Council had developed, validated and gazette three regulations aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s seed industry: the National Harmonized Plant Varieties (Registration and Release) Regulations, 2025; National Early Generation Seed Production (Liberalization) Regulations, 2025; and Third-Party Seed (Certification) Regulations, 2025.
He said the regulations would strengthen NASC’s regulatory oversight and quality assurance, but stressed that their effectiveness would depend on proper understanding and implementation by stakeholders.
According to him, the PROSSIVA training was designed to improve participants’ capacity in cassava seed production, field inspection, certification, traceability and quality assurance.
The NASC Project Coordinator, Mal. Dahir Rabiu, described cassava as a strategic crop for Nigeria’s food security, rural livelihoods and agro-industrial development.
Rabiu noted that cassava’s vegetative propagation made the use of healthy and quality-assured planting materials particularly important, as diseased or poor-quality stems could transmit infections across production cycles, reduce yields and cause losses for farmers.
The Council said the expansion of private-sector participation in seed inspection and certification must not compromise national standards, stressing that the licensing of inspectors must be matched with competence, accountability and integrity.
It also urged cassava stem producers and out-growers to recognize their role in supporting farmers’ productivity and livelihoods, rather than viewing their activities as mere multiplication of planting materials.
NASC said the success of the programme would ultimately be measured by improved field inspections, stronger compliance with certification standards, healthier planting materials and greater farmer confidence in certified cassava seed.
The Council commended the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Sahel Consulting, research institutions, development partners and its technical team for supporting the PROSSIVA initiative.
