Nigerian Agricultural Sector Introduces Smart Seed Labeling Technology to Eliminate Low-Quality Seeds

Each planting season, farmers are confronted with the challenge of purchasing quality seeds to plant. Sometimes, they end up buying fake seeds from agro vendors. The quality of seed greatly affects the state of agricultural produce. Considering that, fake seeds yield low-quality grains and invariably, affects the value of the commodity in the international market. Provision of quality seed has been a top priority for the National Agricultural Seeds Council of Nigeria.

In a bid to provide quality seeds, the Nigerian government has partnered with Mpedigree to introduce a smart seed labeling and verification system, that can eliminate the prevalence of low-quality seeds in the country. Mpedigree is a global organization that protects against counterfeit products with the use of mobile and web technologies.

Mpedigree will help the Nigerian government to introduce a new electronic agro certification system, called “NASCODE”. This technology is based on Mpedigree’s Goldkeys platform which offers smart certification tags through a verification system. NASCODE is a smart seed labeling and verification system that will identify counterfeit seeds in the market.

How it Works

NASCODE works just like drug verification technology in the pharmaceutical industry. A turnkey electronic labeling system will be used to label seeds. The farmer will scratch the label and send the unique authentication code to a certain number to verify if the seed producer is certificated by the National Agricultural Seeds Certificate.

Blockchain verification will be also available through a QR code scanner via a mobile app or web-based portal. The farmers can verify the quality of seeds within a few seconds. The NASCODE technology will ensure certification of seeds producers and monitor the entire seed value chain.