Economy
USAID to Increase Farmer Access to High-quality Seed
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), through their joint Scaling Seeds and Technology Partnership (SSTP) held a national dialogue on November 17 to 18 in Accra, to discuss the challenges facing the development of Ghana’s seed sector. USAID/ Ghana Mission Director, Mr Andrew Karas delivered remarks on the importance of the production and distribution of high-quality certified seeds in Ghana.
The dialogue brought together representatives from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, crop breeders, and the private sector to examine recommendations from the recent USAID-AGRA funded independent Early Generation Seed Study, and to further develop an action plan for the seed sector. The group reviewed supply and demand constraints facing publicly developed, released, and registered seed varieties of seven crops: maize, rice, cowpea, soybean, sorghum, groundnut and yam. Participants discussed steps to creating a policy environment to boost and sustain seed development, as well as methods to include the private sector throughout the seed production process.
“USAID recognizes that developing Ghana’s seed system is critical to enhancing the productivity of key values chains and increasing incomes of smallholder farmers,” remarked Mr Karas.
“Through Feed the Future, the U. S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, USAID works alongside the Ghana Government, research organizations, the private sector, and development partners to increase agricultural productivity and build opportunities for economic growth in Ghana,” he added.
Through Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, USAID works to strengthen the Ghanaian seed sector to increase the quality and quantity of certified seeds available to smallholder farmers. USAID supports institutions like the Savanna Agriculture Research Institute (SARI) and the West Africa Center for Crop Improvement to develop and release new higher yielding and more climate-resilient varieties of maize, rice, and soybean. To guarantee a consistent and increasing supply of certified seed, USAID has leveraged $10 million towards the seed sector, to grow and enhance the quality of seeds available in Ghana. USAID also trained 65 private seed companies on the production of certified seed, post-harvest best practices and business management. These companies then successfully produced over 1,300 metric tons of certified seed for release into the market for the 2017 growing season.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
