Nigeria-Netherlands Seed Partnership
Nigeria and the Netherlands have agreed to work together on enhancing the performance of Nigeria’s seed sector. The vision for the seed sector in Nigeria is to be competitive, resilient, profitable, innovative and adaptive, sustainable, inclusive, resistant and transparent. With the Nigeria-Netherlands Seed Partnership (NNSP) the Dutch government aims to support the strengthening of the seed sector in Nigeria, contributing to the country’s capacity in fostering the development of the agricultural sector, enhancing food and nutrition security, while also addressing major challenges in the climate crisis. The NNSP aims to create alignment, complementarities and synergy between current and future Dutch government funded seed programmes and private sector activities. The NNSP platform houses all Dutch supported interventions in the country; it is managed by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) in Abuja, in collaboration with the Consulate-General in Lagos, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LVN) and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
Seed sector review
The Nigeria seed sector assessment was conducted in 2020; it identified opportunities for Nigeria-Netherlands collaboration. It included desk study and consultation of Nigerian experts and development partners through focus group discussions and meetings in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano. Find the results in the crop brief report and the assessment report.
National Seed Road Map
Based on the assessment and inputs from Nigerian and international experts a consultancy team developed a seed road map, which was officially launched in the 2020 Seed Connect Conference. Find the National Seed Road Map at the website of the National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) of Nigeria.
Projects under the umbrella of the NNSP
Collaborative Seed Programme
The Collaborative Seed Programme (CSP) brings together Nigerian and Dutch seed sector stakeholders with the aim to enhance the performance of the Nigerian seed sector. The initiative is led by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands and Sahel Consulting in Nigeria. The programme aims to improve farmers’ access and use of quality seed of new, improved varieties, working on eight topics of the National Seed Road Map in the areas of service provision, market development, sector governance and sector regulation.
Super Trainer Horticulture Nigeria
This Knowledge-to-Knowledge (K2K) project is a collaboration between Wageningen Plant Research and S4C. It fosters effective and efficient horticulture knowledge transfer by training of extension agents in Nigeria, now applying digital applications due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nuffic Tailor Made-Training Plus
The Nuffic Tailor Made-Training Plus is a one year programme where teachers, professors and other professionals of the Kano’s Bayero University Centre for Dryland Agriculture are trained in the subjects of horticulture and entrepreneurship.
Seeds 4 Change
The Seeds 4 Change (S4C) is a 3-year Impact Cluster that is coordinated and implemented by the Netherlands-African Business Council (NABC) and 6 Dutch companies, seed breeders and experts in biological crop protection, partly funded by the Dutch government. S4C aims for the development of the vegetable sector in Kano by the provision of high-quality vegetable seeds and biological crop protection combined with training of farmers on how to cultivate vegetables with improved inputs.
Transforming Nigeria’s Vegetable Markets
This 5-year Sustainable Development Goals Partnership (SDGP) of East-West Seed with Dutch and Nigerian partners and support from RVO, aims to introduce improved vegetable varieties and train 136,000 smallholder farmers in sustainable and profitable vegetable production practices for increased crop productivity and alignment of vegetable production with market demands.
Seed Partners
Partners in the NNSP include government, industry, knowledge, regulatory, civil society and farmer organisations from both Nigeria and the Netherlands. Partners in Nigeria include: NASC, Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN), various individual seed companies and producers, Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition Ltd. (Sahel Consulting), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), various National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) and the National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB). Partners in the Netherlands include: NABC, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) through Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI) and Wageningen Plant Research (WPR), Plantum, Dutch/international seed companies and Naktuinbouw.
Funding
The Collaborative Seed Programme is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All other projects are funded by RVO.
Picture references - Header from Rijk Zwaan - Other pictures from top to bottom: Rijk Zwaan, HZPC, East-West Seed, East-West Seed