INVITATION TO ATTEND A THREE DAY CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING ON PRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE OF SEED PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY IN ATTAINING QUALITY ASSURANCE

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The National Agricultural Seed Council is inviting your organization to a three-day capacity building training titled: Principles and Practice of Seed Production Technology in attaining Quality Assurance. This training will prepare your technical staffs for the task ahead in meeting up with the quality standard set by the Council with respect to quality assurances of the seeds being produced. This training will be essential for the smooth operation of the newly accredited seed companies.

Training objectives and Expression of interest FORMClick to Download

Request for Quotation (RFQ) for Provision of Consultancy for the development of an online seed market information management system for the provision of information on Early Generation Seeds (EGS) and management of supply and demand for quality seeds in Nigeria RFQ Number: NASC-SEEDAN- AGRA/SMIMS-2022-JUL

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The National Agricultural Seeds Council is seeking the services of interested and qualified consultants to submit their Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the development of an online seed market information management system for the provision of information on Early Generation Seeds (EGS) and management of supply and demand for quality seeds in Nigeria. The Consultant will work to implement the assignment with the support of the NASC HQ and Project Team.

The deadline for the submission of Tender shall not be later than 12 noon of Tuesday 19th July 2022 at the Office of the Director General, National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) Kilometer 29 Abuja-Lokoja Expressway, Sheda, Federal Capital Territory.

All communications regarding this solicitation shall be directed to the appropriate parties at NASC via [email protected] .

Follow the link below to download the advert
https://seedcouncil.gov.ng/uploads/2022/07/BID-ADVERT-NATIONAL-SEED-INFORMATION-MANAGEMENT-SYSTEM.pdf

Request for Quotation (RFQ) for Supply of Laboratory Equipment for the upgrade of two National Agricultural Seeds Council Laboratories to meet International Seed TESTING Association (ISTA) Laboratory Standard RFQ Number: NASC SEEDAN-AGRA/LABEQUIP-2022-JUL

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Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (“AGRA”) under the “Building capacity of NASC and Seed Companies to support a robust Seed System in Nigeria” is providing support for equipping two laboratories within National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) of Nigeria with state-of-the-art equipment capable of making these laboratories to meet International Seed Testing Association (“ISTA”) accreditation. This support will further assist Seed Entrepreneurs Association of Nigeria (SEEDAN) members in meeting the quality requirement of NASC and ISTA to produce seeds fit for both local and international trade.

The National Agricultural Seeds Council is seeking the services of qualified seed laboratory equipment suppliers to submit tenders with respect to the RFQ.

The deadline for the submission of Tender should not be later than 12 noon of Wednesday 10th August 2022 at the Office of the Director General, National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) Kilometer 29 Abuja- Lokoja Expressway, Sheda, Federal Capital Territory.

All communications regarding this solicitation shall be directed to the appropriate parties at NASC via [email protected] .

Follow the link below to download the advert

https://seedcouncil.gov.ng/uploads/2022/07/BID-ADVERT-LABORATORY-EQUIPMENT-NASC-AGRA-SEEDAN-PROJECT-JUL-2022.pdf

https://seedcouncil.gov.ng/uploads/2022/07/NASC-Lab-equipment-TOR-2022-2.pdf

NASC set to hold SeedConnect AFRICA Conference and Exhibition 2021

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The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) in partnership with Wandieville Media is organizing the SeedConnect Africa 2021 Conference and Exhibition. The SeedConnect, an annual event brings together relevant stakeholders in the seed industry to interact, discuss and chart a promising path towards the growth and development of the seed industry. SeedConnect serves as a platform for all relevant stakeholders in the seed industry to share their knowledge and experience in their years of doing business in the industry, exhibit and showcase their products, and harness opportunities for networking and partnership. The theme of this year’s event is “Strengthening Resilience through Partnership for a Robust Seed System in Nigeria” which is scheduled to hold at NAF Conference Centre Abuja on the 29th and 30th of November, 2021.

You are all cordially invited to be part of this great event.

Ido Verhagen

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Ido Verhagen is the executive director of the Access to Seeds Index. Since its start in 2013, the Index has grown out to a unique resource for information on how the seed industry is supporting smallholder farmer productivity, one of the main targets on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. The 2019 Index includes an evaluation of 60 seed companies across 65 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Prior to starting up the Access to Seeds Index, Ido worked as a sustainability advisor for Dutch multinationals like Philips, Heineken and KLM.

Dr. Ebegba Rufus Eseoghene

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Dr. Rufus Ebegba Hails from Delta State, Married with children. He is the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Biosafety Management Agency. He holds a B.Sc.(Agriculture), M.Sc.(Environmental Biology) and subsequently awarded a Ph.D (Biodiversity). He also attended various short courses in Administration, biodiversity Conservation, Biotechnology and Biosafety. He began his career working as Administrative Officer at the defunct Centre for Democratic Studies, Abuja 1990-1996. He moved to FEPA, where he worked as the Principal Environmental Scientist 1996-1999. He was later appointed Assistant Chief Environmental Scientist at the Federal Ministry of Environment 1999-2005; was Chief Environment Scientist 2005-2008; Assistant Director 2008-2012; and Deputy Director 2012-2015 before being appointed the Director General/CEO of the National Biosafety Management Agency. He has over 27 years of working experience in the areas of Administration, Biosafety Management, Biodiversity Conservation and sustainable utilization of renewable natural recourses, Strategic planning in Biosafety and Biodiversity. Currently, he is also the National Project Coordinator, UNEP-GEF National Biosafety Framework Implementation Project in Nigeria; the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety National Focal Point for Nigeria; a member of the Expert Committee of West African Biosafety Regulation and a former member of the Ad-hoc Technical Expert Group on Biosafety Risk Assessment and Risk Management of the Convention on Biological Diversity of the United Nations.. He has special Competence in the following fields:  Administration,  Biosafety Regulation(Risk Assessment/Management,) and policy  BCH Administration  Biodiversity Conservation (National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan , Wetlands Conservation, Bio-prospecting  Environmental Impact Assessment  Economic Value of Natural Resources  Natural Resources Development and Utilization.  Expert in development and implementation of Projects.  Community leadership Dr. Ebegba was involved in the development of Nigeria National Biotechnology Policy, Nigeria National Biosafety Framework(Biosafety Policy and Policy) under the UNEP/GEF Development of National Biosafety Framework Project; the Nigeria National Biosafety Risk Assessment Analysis Framework; the Nigeria National Biosafety Application Management guidelines, Draft National Biosafety Regulations, National Biosafety Containment Guidelines, National Biosafety Communication Strategy and the last edition of the Nigeria Biosafety Guidelines, to name a few. Dr. Ebegba has participated in organizing and attended many workshops and meetings. He has worked closely with the UN and African Union Biodiversity, biosafety systems and Program for Biosafety systems. He has over 100 Various Publication on Biosafety, Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Management. He has travelled widely internationally. He has received awards for hard work and service to humanity.

Mrs. Karima I. Babangida

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Mrs. Karima I. Babangida, is Director, Federal Department of Agricultural Extension (FDAE).  In this capacity she provides leadership in agricultural extension development and delivery in the country.  Her duties also involve gender mainstreaming, policy formulation, development and implementation of programs on empowerment of women, youth and vulnerable groups in agriculture.

She is the Agric Focal Lead for Growing Girls and Women in Nigeria (GWIN), a special intervention programme targeting economic empowerment of women financed by the Federal Government.  She led the team that prepared the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) under technical assistance of FAO and served as National Project Coordinator for the FAO assisted Strengthening Capacity to Implement the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP).

Prior to this assignment, she worked in Agro-Processing and Marketing Department where she served as the Assistant Coordinator of Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) Initiative, a continent-wide Japanese Government assisted programme that produced the National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS) document that laid the foundation for the Rice Transformation Agenda of the nation.  She served as the Assistant Coordinator for the Rice Post Harvest, Processing and Marketing Project (RIPPMAP) in Nasarawa and Niger States funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).  She also worked with the Japanese Government Consultant to conduct a countrywide study on rice prior to the commencement of RIPPMAP.  Before then, she worked in Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA) on Japanese KR-2 Project, Conservation Tillage Farming Rice Box Project, and National Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS).  She served as the Secretary for Presidential Initiative on Rice from 2001 to 2003 and represented the Ministry in the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Rice Price Benchmarking for 5 years. Mrs. Karima I. Babangida is an agronomist and alumnus of Ahmadu  Bello University Zaria.

Hemant Nitturkar

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Hemant Nitturkar is an entrepreneur, a business mentor and a tri-sector professional with multi-domain, multi country work experience. Over the past 2 ½ decades, he has worked in agriculture, IT and financial services sectors and in the government, private sector and civil society organisations. He is a two-time recipient of the Governor’s Gold Medals from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad for his academic achievement in BSc (Agriculture) and MSc (Genetics and Plant Breeding). He holds a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from Securities Institute of Australia.

He strongly feels the world community has a window of maximum 15 years to create an ecosystem that can provide meaningful economic opportunities for the teeming youth, else we face a demographic catastrophe instead of enjoying a demographic dividend.  Hence, he is a strong proponent of the UN SDGs. His personal life mission is to create positive impact in the lives of at least one million families unknown to him.

 

He is currently the Project Director for a CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) project called Building an Economically Sustainable, Integrated Cassava Seed System in Nigeria (BASICS) based in International Institute for Tropical Agriculture(IITA), a CGIAR Organisation, based in Ibadan, Nigeria. The project has interventions that contribute towards SDGs 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 17.

Folusho Olaniyan OON

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CEO CONTACT CONSULTING NIGERIA

PROGRAMME DIRECTOR AGRAINNOVATE WEST AFRICA

Folusho started her career in the food industry as a management trainee with A.G.Leventis Nigeria. Plc. in 1988. She resigned from Leventis foods as Head of Sales and Marketing in 2005, to take up an appointment with UTC Nig Plc and later became Managing Director/CEO in 2007;a post she held  till 2012 Folusho collaborated with the Federal ministry of Agriculture and rural development  on the Agricultural transformation agenda, to pioneer the commercialization of 20% cassava flour inclusion in bread and pastries. She resigned to set up Contact Consulting Nig. Ltd; a Research, Business advisory, Marketing support services and investment promotion organization, focused on Agricultural value chain development and investments in 2013.

She served as consultant/ market analyst to Partnerships In Niger Delta PIND project on the Cassava scoping study 2014. She also served as strategy consultant to CAVA Cassava Adding Value for Africa; a Bill and Melinda Gates funded project, headquartered at the Federal University of Agriculture , Abeokuta, Nigeria ,in 2015.

Folusho served as an expert consultant to Dalberg Global advisors on the IDH Market study on commercial opportunities in commercial cassava production in Nigeria in 2015. Folusho also served as Business Development and Marketing consultant/Adviser to MADE (Market For Development in The Niger Delta), funded by DFID through DAI UK. Folusho also served as a consultant to Palladium Group United Kingdom, on the West Africa Food Markets Pilot Programme, which launched a £1 million pounds  grant in 2016. Folusho served on the judging panel of the Rockefeller foundation Cassava Yieldwise $1million dollars Challenge set up in 2016 to promote innovation in cassava post harvest practices.

Folusho is a member of the project advisory committee of BASICS-(Building an Economically Sustainable, Integrated Seed System for Cassava In Nigeria) , a 4 year project (2016-2019) funded by Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, and coordinated by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural research CGIAR’s Research program on Roots, Tubers, and Bananas RTB. The Project partners include Food and Environment Research Agency of the United Kingdom, and International institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA.

Folusho served as a consultant to the World economic forum Grow Africa project in 2016, on the scoping study and data assessment of maize , soya bean,and coffee sectors in Tanzania,Ghana, and Ethiopia.

In 2017 Folusho served as primary consultant  to Grow Africa, in the compilation of Rice fact sheets for ECOWAS countries in preparation for the AGRA investment forum in Abidjan, Cote D’ivoire. Grow Africa is a partnership platform cofounded by the World Economic Forum, that seeks investments and transformational change in African agriculture. This platform has broad support of USAID, and works closely with African governments and the African Union. Contact consulting Nigeria is the conference partner to Agrainnovate West Africa, funded by Informa group UA. Contact Consulting Nigeria is also the partner to Nigerian Agricultural seed council on the Seedconnect Africa project.

 

Folusho is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK, and a member of the Institute of Directors. She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and a professional postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Cookham, United Kingdom. She has attended two fellowship programs of the United States Department of Agriculture USDA, on Women in Agriculture, and snack food development at the Iowa state University USA between 2015 and 2017 earning her a  Cochran fellowship of the United States Department of Agriculture USDA. Folusho is a member of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, USA.

Folusho is the current program Director of Agra innovate West Africa, an annual conference funded by Informa Group UK and UAE. Informa is the world’s largest publicly quoted exhibition company. The Agrainnovate agribusiness trade show and conference is an annual knowledge sharing and business partnerships/ deal making platform attended by 3,000+ visitors from over 20 countries across the globe. Testimonies of economic empowerment and sustainable partnerships have accrued from beneficiaries of this project.

In recognition of Folusho’s contributions to the Nigerian food industry, she was awarded National honours of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in September 2014 by the President and Commander in Chief  of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.