Chiromawa community, Kura LGA, Kano state Nigeria, is an area considered the rice hub of the state due to the enormous resources endowed with rice cultivating, processing, and other value chain activities by smallholder farmers. However, the farmers need access to improved seeds to maximize their yield. 

As a part of the Kano state Agropastoral development project (KSADP) funded by the Islamic Development Bank, SAA-Nigeria promoted Community-based Seed Multiplication (CBSM) model during the 2022 wet farming season. The model enhanced the community’s access to improved quality seeds, which are early maturing and resistant to pests and diseases.

One of the beneficiaries, a host farmer of the CSBM, Alhaji Babangida Kura, said, “I was happy to get the quality seeds and inputs from Sasakawa. In my community, we usually plant old seeds with low yields, requiring longer maturity period, and are highly susceptible to pest and disease attack.”

After receiving several training modules on improved planting methods, fertilizer application, and pest and disease control, Kura almost doubled rice production, which is 7.8 Mt/ha, against the 4.0 Mt using conventional farmer practices.  

Benefiting from the market linkages facilitated by SAA, Kura sold 6.0 Mt of the seeds to Premier seeds company at 1,450,000 (USD 3,500). He used the proceeds to buy a plot of land for his farming activities. 

Kura said he is now a registered seed grower with the Premier seeds company and is looking forward to helping farmers in his community to access quality seed varieties. 

The CBSM system, supervised by the National Seed Council (NSC) for quality control, ensures that farmers have sustainable timely access to quality seeds. 

Retrieved from SAA E-Newsletter, issued in January 2023 with Focus on Market-oriented Agriculture