The Department has statutory responsibility for the quality and certification of breeder, foundation and certified seeds; effective quality control of all classes of traded seeds; and facilitation of prompt registration and release of new crop varieties.

In order to carry out these activities effectively, Seed Certification Officers located in each State of Federation and the FCT. In addition, seed testing laboratories exist in the six zonal offices for testing the quality of seed lots intended for sale to farmers. All these gave been re-aligned to key into the present administration’s Change Agenda.

2.2.1 Field Inspection

During the year, a total of 49,699 Ha of seed crops-(BS, FS, CS) fields was inspected of which 48,927 Ha (98.4%) was approved for certification, while 772 Ha (1.6%) failed the minimum field standards. This was achieved through the three minimum seed field inspection visit by the council’s certification officers; Headquarter monitoring team visit for spot-checking at least 10% of the total area under seed production. In addition to spot-checking the established seed fields, a joint monitoring and verification of source of planting materials was carried out nationwide. (Table 6-8)

Table 6: Seed Crop Fields Inspection by Type and Class, 2015 (Ha)