For cassava in Nigeria, experts have identified huge efforts with low yield as a major problem affecting meeting-up with the demand and productivity.
They said a major reason for the low yields in Nigeria is the continued planting of old, often diseased, planting materials and the low level of adoption of new, higher yielding varieties.
In solving this, they stressed the need to have improved cassava varieties and to develop sustainable cassava seed system.
They made this know at a media parley held on Wednesday, at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
The Advocacy, Promotion and Outreach Lead of Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System, Phase 2 (BASICS-II), Dr. Godwin Atser, said cassava plays a central role in the food supply of many African countries including Nigeria.
He said that yields must increase significantly to meet expended demand and ensure food security adding that the development of cassava is very important because the crop is one of the foods in Nigeria and an engine of growth.
He noted that the demands for cassava are growing rapidly while the yields are very low.
According to Atser, the IITA’s new sustainable cassava system model, called Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System, Phase 2 (BASICS-II) offers the opportunity to achieve high and qualitative yields.
His words: “This need will not be met if farmers continue to plant diseased materials of old varieties that were not bred for the changing environment.
“Farmers need reliable access to planting materials in a pipeline of new, improved, climate-smart varieties to increase yields, food security, resiliency and supply emerging enterprises in cassava processing.
“The fundamental principles of BASICS model place emphasis on the breeding of clean and disease-free varieties that are in demand by end-users. Varieties must be tolerant of the two devastating diseases-Cassava Brown Streak and Cassava Mosaic fit into the model. The BASICS model underscores the need for commercialisation at all levels, through activities to create demand, advocacy, marketing, and promotion, thereby ensuring that producers of cassava seeds have access to markets to sell their products.
“What differentiates the BASICS model from traditional multiplication schemes is its emphasis on profitability to ensure a reliable and sustainable supply of planting materials. Farmers buy stems from Commercial Seed Enterprises (CSEs) who use these revenues to sustain their seed businesses and are encouraged to continue to multiply and sell stems for years to come. Early Generation Seed businesses are similarly designed to sell their foundation seeds to the CSEs, generating revenues that sustain their operations. The BASICS model incorporates quality control, inspection, and certification systems to ensure trueness to type,” Atser said.
He listed the benefits of the BASICS model to include increase in cassava productivity, promoting quality and disease-free seeds, hindering the spread of cassava diseases, high multiplication ratio, creating jobs and wealth and response to feedback from end users.
Also speaking, the Vegetative Seed Specialist for IITA GoSeed, Dr Mercy Diebiru-Ojo, said GoSeed has been able to help the cassava value chain adding that there has been significant changes in the last couple of years.
She explained that GoSeed is an early generation seed company responsible for producing quality seeds for farmers with improved technological varieties and early generations for further seed producers.
She said: “We are not only producing quality seed, we also make newly improved variety of crops, Nigerian staple crops available to farmers.
“For most vegetative crop like cassava, the multiplication rate has been a big challenge whereby you have to wait several years to get enough planting material of the desired variety. But with GoSeed, we are employing the use of new and improved technology to ensure we multiply these planting materials,” she said.
Also contributing, the Operations Manager for IITA GoSeed, Akinyemi Ibikunle, said the business of seed production and cassava value production is pretty rewarding if investors can follow through all of the recommendations.
He added that it was pretty rewarding adding that interested people can reach out on www.iitagoseed.com.
Earlier, while giving his welcome address, the Project Manager, Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System, Phase 2 (BASICS-II), Professor Lateef Sanni, said countries are making gold in cassava adding that low yield has been identified as a problem in Nigeria.
He said that the Phase 2 (BASICS-II) project will replace stems giving low yield while urging the media to work with the team to spread the message to farmers and populace.
