NASC and PIND partner to expand certified seed access in Nigeria

The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) and the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) have entered into a two-year partnership to improve access to certified seeds in Nigeria. The agreement, formalized via a Memorandum of Understanding in Abuja, aims to strengthen quality assurance and encourage investment in the domestic seed industry.

The collaboration will focus on expanding community-based seed production, enhancing certification and inspection processes, and developing local seed enterprises. By combining NASC’s regulatory authority with PIND’s market systems expertise, the initiative seeks to mobilize investment across the seed value chain and provide farmers with reliable planting materials.

NASC Director-General Fatuhu Muhammed stated that the partnership will bring quality-assurance services closer to producers in the Niger Delta, protecting farmers from poor-quality materials. PIND Executive Director Sam Daibo noted that the move aims to scale community-level interventions into institutional adoption to help farmers build more commercially viable livelihoods.