b'worldSTATUSSTATUS KOREA through a new initiativeing demands for only 15% ofSTATUS UKSoybean seeds coated withknown as the Start Themthe 1.8 million hectares of landEssex is part of the inter-iron, which has a smell that isEarly Program (STEP), isplanned for wheat cultivation.national CAPITALISE crop offensive to birds, turned outintroducing agribusiness train- The remainder will come fromresearch project just granted to have a higher germinationing in secondary schools infarmers own saved seed or8.6m from the European rate, drawing attention asOyo State. To promote inter- from seeds from unknownCommission to exploit a new bird repelling solu- est in agriculture and learningsources in the local market.ground-breaking technol-tion for farm use. Accordingamong the secondary-schoolFAO, under its Smallholderogy to radically increase crop to the Goesan Agriculturalaged children, IITA will launchSupport Programme, worksyields in Europe and beyond. Technology Center, iron- a modern agribusiness train- toward finding strategic solu- This is part of a new Green coated soybean seeds wereing facility at Fasola Grammartions to make quality seedRevolution to address the sowed in a 15-hectare plotSchool in Fasola community,available for smallholder farm- expected future food crisis in Goesan County, SouthOyo State, on July 15, 2020.ers. With the support fromand Essex will be work-Chungcheong Province inHis Excellency, Governor ofthe FAO Headquarters Seeding with the University of March on a trial basis. TheOyo State, Engr. Seyi MakindeSecurity Team, FAO Syria hasCambridge and University of surface of the soybeanwill inaugurate the programconducted a Seed SecurityLancaster alongside leading seeds was coated with ironand the training facility. TheAssessment, which was com- universities and organization by inserting an appropriateSTEP initiative was estab- pleted in April 2020. To ana- from seven other countries. amount of soybean seed,lished in 2018 to advancelyze the quality and availabilityCurrent yield improvements iron, adhesive, and calcinedagribusiness development toof seed of across the country,are only around 1% per year, gypsum into a mixer. The aimsecondary schools in Africa.a representative sample ofand the productivity increase was to prevent birds fromThe program aims to exposecrop farmers from seven gov- of some key crops, including eating the seeds before theyyoung people in secondaryernorates were interviewed towheat and rice, has stalled in germinated. Three monthsschools to viable opportuni- provide their perspectives. some major production areas. after the seeds were planted,ties in agribusiness at an earlyThe assessment findingsDespite clever crop breeding the germination rate of thestage. This is expected toincluded: programmes and agricultural iron-coated soybean seedshelp direct their aspirations Although GOSM is anpractices, new innovations turned out to be 95%, abouttowards careers in modernimportant source for accred- are needed now. CAPITALISE, twice as high as that ofagriculture and as a result,ited wheat seed, the farmersled by Wageningen University soybean seeds which werebreed new African agribusi- obtained half of their seedin the Netherlands, is driving sowed in a general manner. ness leaders. from other sources to supple- an international multidiscipli-The germination rate ofment what they received fromnary team of plant breeding the soybean seeds whichGOSM. companies, a phenotyping were sowed using the ironSTATUS SYRIALocal informal marketstechnology developer and coating method was farSeed availability of majorare an important source ofacademic plant scientists higher than that of thecrops has been a serious chal- seed for nearly every majorincluding Professor Christine soybean seeds which werelenge for Syrian smallholdercrop. Raines and Professor Tracy sowed in a general manner,farmers in the past 10 years 20% of farmers areLawson from the School officials at the Goesandue to the damage to thesowing less seed than theyof Life Sciences at Essex Agricultural Technologyagricultural system caused thenormally would because theyto develop high yielding Center say. We will promoteconflict. Prior to the crisis, thecannot afford seed or otherclimate smart crops. This the distribution of this newGeneral Organization for Seedinputs like water for irrigationmulti-disciplinary approach farming technique to contrib- Multiplication (GOSM) wasor agrochemicalsbreaks down existing innova-ute to improving the produc- responsible for the provision Seed is a significant costtion silos and will develop a tivity of soybean-producingof up to 300,000 tonnes offor farmers, the estimationfocused research agenda and farms. certified wheat seed a yearof their total expenditure onroad map for policy makers, to farmers across the coun- seed is between 1/6 (rain- funders and the research try. Today, GOSM is capablefed) to 1/3 (irrigated) in total,community. SWSTATUS NIGERIA of providing only aroundwhich is spent in local infor-The International Institute of50,000 tonnes of seed. Thismal markets.Tropical Agriculture (IITA),is enough to meet the plant-76/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2020'