Nigeria must take urgent steps to preserve its indigenous seeds or risk losing a vital part of its agricultural heritage, food security and resilience to climate change, according to Dr. Abiola Bashorun, National Coordinator of the Climate-Smart Agronomy Programme (NC-SAP).
Bashorun said indigenous seeds are more than planting materials, describing them as living repositories of the nation’s history, culture, science and survival that have sustained farming communities for generations.
She warned that climate change, deforestation, habitat degradation, urbanisation, changing farming practices, conflict and the gradual loss of traditional seed-saving knowledge are pushing many indigenous crops, vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants, forage species and forest trees towards extinction.
According to her, while seed banks play an important role in preserving plant genetic resources, conservation should go beyond storing seeds in cold facilities.
“A seed has only one purpose—to grow,” she said, explaining that the philosophy behind the proposed Seed Conservation Bank (SCB) is that “Seeds were created to be planted, multiplied and shared—not merely preserved.”
Bashorun explained that, unlike conventional storage facilities, the Seed Conservation Bank would operate as a living conservation system where indigenous and climate-resilient seeds are collected, scientifically tested, regenerated, multiplied and redistributed to farming communities to maintain their viability and genetic integrity.
She described one of the greatest challenges facing indigenous seed conservation as “Seed Jail,” a situation where valuable indigenous seeds are collected and stored but are neither sufficiently regenerated nor made readily available to the communities that have preserved them for generations.
According to her, the consequence is a gradual decline in biodiversity, weakening climate resilience, loss of traditional agricultural knowledge and increased dependence on commercial seed varieties, making food systems more vulnerable.
“The answer is not fewer seed banks. The answer is better seed banks that actively regenerate, multiply and return seeds to farmers through partnerships with communities, universities, research institutions and government agencies,” she said.
Bashorun said the Seed Conservation Bank aims to establish a nationwide network of conservation centres dedicated to protecting endangered indigenous crops, vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants, pasture species and forest trees.
She explained that the initiative would conserve endangered indigenous seed varieties, regenerate and multiply conserved seeds, supply high-quality indigenous seeds to farmers, establish community-based seed conservation centres across the country, support climate-smart agriculture and ecological restoration, protect biodiversity, promote research and innovation, create employment opportunities for young people, and strengthen Nigeria’s food security while preserving its agricultural heritage.
The environmental sustainability advocate noted that indigenous seeds have survived generations of droughts, floods, pests, diseases and changing weather conditions, making them invaluable for developing resilient agricultural systems.
She added that the Seed Conservation Bank would complement Nigeria’s climate adaptation and mitigation strategies by supporting biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, afforestation, sustainable land management, carbon sequestration and resilient food production.
Calling for collective action, Bashorun urged government institutions, universities, research organisations, traditional rulers, farmers’ associations, development partners, private sector organisations and local communities to work together to protect Nigeria’s indigenous seeds.
“The future of agriculture will not be secured by locking seeds away. It will be secured by cultivating them, renewing them, multiplying them and placing them back into the hands of the people who feed the nation,” she said.
She described the Seed Conservation Bank as more than a storage facility, saying it represents a national commitment to biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, food security, environmental sustainability and rural prosperity.
Bashorun said the initiative is guided by the philosophy “Conserve. Regenerate. Multiply. Share.” Its vision, she added, is to ensure that every indigenous seed is conserved, every viable seed regenerated, every regenerated seed planted and every harvest secured for future generations, because every seed deserves the opportunity to grow—not to remain in “Seed Jail.”