By Gabriel Ewepu

In this interview, the Business Development Manager, East West Seed Nigeria, Hadiza Yaro, explained how farmers have received the best products and services in their business, as the company celebrates 40 Years anniversary of producing vegetable seeds and delivering quality services to farmers.

Excerpts:

Why is East West Seed celebrating its 40th anniversary internationally and also in Nigeria?

East West Seed globally is celebrating 40 years anniversary. East West Seed was established in 1982 in The Philippines.

All over the world this year marks the 40th anniversary for East West Seed, and we have lined up of activities to be conducted in different countries. So in Nigeria we are just launching the first and we are assure you more are coming.

The theme of the 40 years anniversary is ‘Growing a Healthier Tomorrow’.
During the National Field Day we have a huge turnout and we had meaningful conversation from Real Farmers with Real Stories and also the academia

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We hosted the Vice Chancellor from Greenfield University, Kaduna, Professor John Gambo Laah, also representatives from Ahmadu Bello University, directors from the Ministry of Agriculture, the  champion farmers who spoke on five top crops. We had the farmer from Delta Engr. Daniel Ijeh speaking about East West seed Platinum F1 Tomato who seeks knowledge at  all cost. The farmer from Ogun State, Mrs Folake Ayuba on stage  spoke on how she was able to break-even with Greengo F1 a Cucumber variety from East West Seed with  a 470%  Return on investment which was a break through the despite several attempts, using other seeds, but then she has reached a final bus stop.

One of EWS key farmer from Sokoto was around to witness this occasion and he was very clear with his mission, even had to come a day earlier than he was invited because he didn’t really want to miss the National Field Day. He is a very experienced farmer who uses farmer-save seeds, but today he is testifying that he tried five different varieties of East West Seeds just to check the performance. and he was happy to announce to people that before now he was cultivating one hectare of land, but by the time he met East West Seeds he got quality vegetable seeds now, he has grown to cultivating four hectares of land at the moment.

We also heard from a Kenyan popularly known as ‘Farm-daddy’ who spoke to us about his experience in Kenya, and his experience in Nigeria, how he heard about opportunities in Nigeria, a population of about 200 million, yet he picked a small bag and travelled all the way to Nigeria,  with only a smal bag, ‘ l travelled all the way to Nigeria because in Kenya tomato goes for about the equivalent of N100 per kilo, and when he discovered that in Nigeria the price can go as high as N600 per kilo. He said that is where the wealth is.
And he added that a friend also told him, it is impossible to meet the demands in the market. Of course, what do you expect? This gentleman traveled all the way to from Kenya, started a life in Epe Lagos but later migrated right in the heart of Kaduna state, cultivating sweet pepper and was very specific of the East West Seed varieties  he is cultivating which includes Mekong F1, Nirmada F1 and Kaveri F1. East West Seed has solved my greatest fear of having quality seed right at my door post.

Last but not the least, we heard also from Damilola Jimoh about how he was able to calculate the return on investment of 300% on Sweet Corn, the sugar king F1. but then you will notice one thing all these farmers are speaking about one variety of East West Seed or the other. All champion farmers are excited because  business is growing

Furthermore, you should be watching out on East West Seed activities in the field because we have a lot of demonstration fields across the country working with smallholder farmers in order to improve their yields like we know the EWS- KT is actively working in Kaduna and Kano while the commercial team are working in 25 states.

On the list we also have the School Gardening Programme to mark the 40th anniversary either tertiary institutions and secondary schools, because we are catching them young. Vice Chancellor of Greenfield University, kaduna made a special plea that please he wants to work with East West Seed because his major challenge as a lot of agric graduates roaming the streets with no practical field experience.

Kindly, watch out for East West Seed activities in Nigeria and the world at large.

Do you see an agric revolution that would attract young people to come on board in the agricultural sector?

I will say yes, because, even at East West Seed you will see its a group of young energetic graduates who have passion for growing vegetables,  working with smallholder farmers. Currently, the team in Nigeria is running into about 60 staff from the north to the south and east, and I can assure you, the number can only get bigger and bigger because our quest to help the smallholder farmers started 40 years ago in The Philippines.

What is your company doing on extension services to farmers?

Yes, extension services to farmers is basically what we do. The knowledge transfer disseminate technical information. In fact, even the National Farmers Field Day itself is an extension programme. I am certain that extension work  is our strength at East West Seed. If you take a look at Access to Seed Index in Asia, East West Seed is ranked number one among the vegetable seed companies and then is worth mentioning, it is the 10th largest vegetable seed company in the world. But yet marked or rated number one, because of engagement with smallholder farmers.

Do you have any plan of diversifying apart from vegetable seed to other seeds production?

Vegetable remains our strength and we are a major player, and we will continue to do what we love doing best without distraction.

Nigeria seems to be a country that don’t consume a lot of vegetables, what is your company going to do in order to change this narrative?

Of course that is the campaign we are doing, and we don’t just sell the seeds to farmers but we also display the vegetable fruits in order to encourage consumers and of course marketers to know that there are high quality vegetable seeds that they can afford to grow and make good income. And don’t forget the theme of the 40 years anniversary ‘Growing a Healthier Tomorrow’. There is a niche market where farmers that grow vegetable can benefit from because if you compare to food crops, vegetables are high value crops, which you cannot afford to play around with and when you are talking in terms of food security and nutrition vegetable ranks number one.

What is your assessment about the market in terms of patronage?

Well, I think in most forum we have discussed with actors along the value chain where you see weak links and a big disconnect from production to markets because there is no proper information in terms of enlightenment. People don’t even know what the standards are in the market. People don’t even have information where these vegetables are consumed. People are busy in their worlds without linking up to other actors and I think networking is the sure way forward where we have information at the tips of our fingers and we connect because if I don’t know what the consumer or marketer wants, I wouldn’t grow it. Then l will struggle to sell what I feel like growing without having adequate information on the market.

Are you saying it is challenge in the vegetable industry in Nigeria?

Yes, it is a big challenge because we have our phones at our fingertips. Like the questions you saw today in the field. We are doing a lot. And then the question is, people don’t have idea of what we are doing or they are simply not interested. But I think you have to seek knowledge before you get it but if people sit down with assumptions I don’t think we will be able to make progress because we need to connect the missing links or the weak links we have to strengthen.

So what’s your last word for those in the vegetable industry right now and those who are yet to join?

I think my key message when I look at the value chain, actors, seed industry in Nigeria, most people don’t see themselves as people who have a common problem, right because is our problem when there are issues in the seed industry is not just on East West Seed it cut across other seed companies.

Until we begin to see ourselves as people and we are a people that have a common challenge, then I think we will continue to see ourselves as competitors.

We have one common enemy. Let me put it that way because the common enemy is our farmers are not really getting the yield that they have. So if we don’t put our hearts together, sit on a round table, discuss our challenges, differences and have the connecting point, then the link will continue to get weaker and weaker until we all lose it.

You mean there is no synergy in the industry right now?

That is why I said is still weak or is not there at all. But I am happy like in the meeting today I can tell you Value Seeds one of the big players in the industry, was here with a lot of staff. We also saw Syngenta, and a lot more companies attending this event to understand that we are not competitors, we are supposed to see each other as friends because the market can hardly be saturated by one.

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