Assessment of Seed Systems and Variety Deployment for Major Food Crops Across Nigerian Agro-Ecological Zones

This study assesses the effectiveness of seed systems and the speed of improved variety deployment for major food crops across Nigerian agro-ecological zones, identifying systemic bottlenecks that limit variety adoption from research to farm level. The time between variety development and widespread farmer adoption in Nigeria is estimated at 8 to 15 years, significantly longer than international norms, resulting in large yield gaps between experiment station and farmer field performance. Understanding the specific bottlenecks in seed systems and variety deployment pathways is essential for accelerating the productivity benefits of crop improvement investments. This study uses a combination of secondary data analysis of DUS and VCU registered variety releases from 2005 to 2023, seed market surveys in 12 markets across all geopolitical zones, and farmer surveys in 18 communities documenting awareness and adoption of released varieties for maize, rice, cowpea, and sorghum. Variety adoption velocity metrics, seed market penetration rates, and supply chain mapping are analysed. Findings reveal that average variety adoption rates are highest for rice (52 percent of farmers using improved varieties), followed by maize (38 percent), cowpea (28 percent), and sorghum (18 percent). Informal seed systems supply 74 percent of planted seed across all crops, highlighting the importance of informal seed markets in variety deployment. Awareness of variety names and improved seed characteristics is low among farmers, reducing demand-driven adoption. The study contributes an original assessment of Nigerian seed system performance and recommends accelerated seed system development investments targeting informal market integration.

Keywords: seed systems, variety adoption, food crops, Nigeria, informal seed market.