Impact of the new agro-certification system (SEEDCODEX) on Nigerian seed industry and crop farming

Abstract

There have been increase in the incidence of fake crop seeds in Nigerian market. This has multiple implications on crop yield and food security. In order to address this problem the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) in 2019 introduced a seed quality assurance tagging and tracking system named SEEDCODEX into the Nigerian seed induatry. Meanwhile, there is no knowledge about the impact of the new system on the industry. This study therefore assessed the impact of Seedcodex on the industry with the aim of understanding the level of awareness, use and constriants among key actors in the seed value chain. Also it has to identify socioeconomic variables affecting the use of seedcodex among end users and come up with recommendations which are capable of enhancing the achievement of the objectives of the system. Data were collected from 44 seed companies, 57 agrodealers and 211 farmers and analyzed with Contingent valuation willingness to pay (WTP), Logit and Tobit regressions. Results revealed that seed companies were aware of Seedcodex and posited that its introduction has increased cost of production, but believed it will sanitize agricultural seed market. All the agrodealers were aware of Seedcodex. Majority of the farmers plant seeds produced by companies and sold by agro-dealers, while few others source seeds from fellow farmers, or use previous year harvest. Only about 31% of the farmers were aware of Seedcodex, among whom majority usually scratch the code but some do not send such for authentication. The Logit estimation revealed that increase in age reduced the likelihood of using the code while education, farm size and access to credit increased the likelihood of using it for authentication. The contingent valuation of WTP revealed that farmers were willing to pay 26.82% extra to obtain certified quality seeds. The Tobit regression estimation revealed that farmers' age and extension contact reduced WTP amount, while farming experience and farm size increased it. It is recommended that efforts be made to attend to companies' complaints on the cost of seed labels and/or create labels corresponding to weight of seed packages in place of the present flat rate, ensure timely delivery and educate farmers more on SEEDCODEX.