NASC Pushes For Law On PVP To Guarantee Higher Agricultural Yields

National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) has initiated moves for the enactment of law on Plant Variety Protection (PVP) to ensure that Nigerian farmers get good quality varieties of seeds for better yields in agricultural productivity to guarantee food security in Nigeria.

Dr. Olusegun Philip Ojo, Director General of NASC, stated this in Abuja at a three-day stakeholders’ training on plant variety protection for food security and economic development in Nigeria.

Ojo explained that the enactment of the law would ensure better yield of up to 6 to 10 tonnes per hectare as against the 1.5 to 3.0 tonnes which Nigerian farmers currently get.

He pointed out that in 2017 that Nigeria made an official request to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants for assistance to support Nigeria in developing a plant variety protection law, adding that the move culminated in the Union’s acceptance of request through sharing of its draft model of plant varieties protection law for domestication and adoption in Nigeria.

The Director General of NASC, stated that in 2018, an expert review meeting was convened by his Council to domesticate the draft PVP Law shared with Nigeria by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, adding that the Bill for an Act to Introduce a PVP Law in Nigeria has been receiving the attention of the House of Representatives where it has passed through second reading.

Commenting on the three-day training, Ojo said it was intended to build the capacity of stakeholders on the benefits of PVP to the Nigerian society to promote food security and economic development of the country.

It would be recalled that NASC is  saddled with the responsibility of regulating the seed industry in Nigeria and ensuring that Nigerian farmers have access to good quality seeds for farming.