Accessing the role of Umudike seeds in the cassava seed value chain in Nigeria

Over the years, farmers have consistently faced challenges in accessing improved, high-quality planting materials for cassava production. Farmers have relied mostly on saved seeds from previous production or from their fellow farmers to access planting materials. Occasionally, every 5-10 years, state and non-state actors, through their interventions, have distributed planting materials to farmers, but this practice has proven not to be sustainable in addressing the issues of availability, accessibility, and affordability of pure, clean, true-to-type cassava seeds. Distortion of the breeding pipeline, poor investment in the seed system, non-integration of cassava seed actors and commercialization of the value chain, non-existent market segmentation, and a weak regulatory system have contributed to farmers' inability to access high-quality cassava seeds. Price fluctuations, supply-chain inefficiencies, farmers and herdsmen clashes leading to crop destruction, and rising costs of fuel have also hindered access to improved cassava seeds. These factors have resulted in poor adoption of good agronomic practices (GAP), low productivity per unit hectare, a weak value chain finance mechanism, and low scaling capabilities of the farmers. There is a high dependence on the importation of cassava derivatives, leading to low income for the farmers. Farmers have found it difficult to meet local demands as the supply-demand gap widens. Low processing industries and soaring production costs have all resulted in negative livelihood outcomes for the farmers. Cassava, as a staple food and nutrition crop, plays an important role in the livelihoods of farmers. It has become significant because of its numerous derivatives, making it an industrial crop. The importance of cassava lies in its value chain, ability to create wealth, improve farmers' livelihoods, and its job creation potential. Umudike Seeds is a spin-off company established by the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) as an Early Generation Seed Company (EGS) to address the gaps in the cassava seed sub-sector in Nigeria by producing and commercializing EGS of cassava. These challenges have set Umudike Seeds on a course to contribute to creating a formal cassava seed system with its partners in the BASICS II project. Boosting cassava production and productivity will entail farmers having access to clean and disease-free cassava planting materials. Umudike Seeds and its partners, as part of their strategy to formalize the cassava seed system, have established Cassava Seed Entrepreneurs (CSE) along the cassava seed value chain to leverage NRCRI and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) breeding activities in developing improved high-quality cassava seed varieties and facilitating access to the same for the farmers.