{"id":1932,"date":"2017-01-12T06:57:05","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T05:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nigeriaagriculturalpolicy.net\/?p=1932"},"modified":"2017-01-12T06:57:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T05:57:05","slug":"varietal-development-and-the-effectiveness-of-seed-sector-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/2017\/01\/12\/varietal-development-and-the-effectiveness-of-seed-sector-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Varietal development and the effectiveness of seed sector policies: The case of rice in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt\">Research Paper |2017| Hiroyuki Takeshima, Alhassan Maji<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Seed is an essential input in agriculture, and the availability of quality seed of superior varieties is often critical for improved food security and poverty reduction in developing countries like Nigeria. However, while the Nigerian government recognizes the importance of improving seed availability,<!--more--> its recent focus in the seed sector has mostly been on improving seed quality rather than on varietal development. This report argues that this is partly due to a knowledge gap regarding the relationship between varietal technology levels and the effectiveness of seed sector policies. We first provide a brief conceptual discussion on how the effectiveness of selected seed sector policies, such as certification, subsidies, and private sector promotion, may depend on underlying varietal technology levels. Using rice as an example, we then provide key historical and international perspectives on how varietal technology development by the public sector through intensive rice breeding had pre-ceded the expansion of seed certification and testing, and show that there still is a substantial need for the Nigerian government to develop improved rice varieties through intensified domestic plant breeding in order for its seed certification and seed subsidy programs to be more effective.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.afre.msu.edu\/uploads\/resources\/FSP_Research_Paper_53.pdf\">Number 53 in the Food Security Policy Research Paper series<\/a>, this publication is part of the research output from the <a href=\"http:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/files\/2016\/10\/Final-NAPP-Pamphlet.pdf\">Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project<\/a>, a joint effort between the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)\u2019s Nigeria Strategy Support Program (NSSP) and Michigan State University funded by USAID-Nigeria.\u00a0This\u00a0<em>Food Security Policy Research Paper<\/em>\u00a0has also been published as\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ebrary.ifpri.org\/cdm\/singleitem\/collection\/p15738coll2\/id\/130730\/rec\/3\">IFPRI Nigeria Strategic Support Program Working Paper No. 34<\/a>\u00a0in September 2016.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px;text-indent: 20px;width: auto;padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px;text-align: center;font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif;color: #ffffff;background: #bd081c no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px;cursor: pointer\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research Paper |2017| Hiroyuki Takeshima, Alhassan Maji Seed is an essential input in agriculture, and the availability of quality seed of superior varieties is often critical for improved food security and poverty reduction in developing countries like Nigeria. However, while the Nigerian government recognizes the importance of improving seed availability,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1136,1137],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nssp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}