IITA's cassava variant expansion, sale soar

Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) GoSeed, an early generation seed company in Nigeria, made a significant progress in 2021 in spite of Coronavirus-induced hiccups.

IITA made the disclosure at its annual Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System, Phase 2 (BASICS-II) meeting, according to a statement.

Supreme reports that IITA GoSeed is a seed company of IITA.

It was established as part of the BASICS project to help to meet demands for early generation planting materials, with cassava as the first target crop.

"Sales were driven primarily by orders from farmers and processors who aim to get higher yields to meet consumers' demands.

"The sales were achieved despite COVID-19 restrictions that hurt seed supply chains," the institute said.

It said that IITA GoSeed recorded sales of improved cassava planting materials averaging $267, 277 in spite of COVID-19 restrictions.

IITA also expressed hope of more sales and expansion in the coming years.

Supreme reports that through its business model, the company established 142 ha of early generation seeds comprising 122 ha of breeder seeds and 20 ha of foundation seeds across eight states in Nigeria.

They have worked without growers to achieve this target while ensuring that women were active participants.

The BASICS-II project was established to address the bottlenecks in the cassava seed system.

It aims to grant farmers easy access to affordable planting materials in an economically-sustainable approach.