Epe, Lagos, 28 September 2026
Good seed is only the beginning. What happens after the farmer takes it home matters just as much.
That idea ran through the whole day on Monday, 28 September, when a delegation from Sakata came to the VD&S Farmers’ Centre in Epe. The visit was led by President/CEO Basile De Barry, with Abdelaziz Ahlifa, Selmani El Arabi and Theimo Vaz. Our Managing Director, Mrs. Folake Aina, and Dr. Hadiza Yaro, Management Representative, hosted them.
Who We Are
We started with the VD&S story. Our roots go back to the early 1990s, and today VD&S Group spans three arms: VD&S Farm, VD&S Feedmill and VD&S Farmers’ Centre. Through the Farmers’ Centre and a network of distributors and dealers, we get inputs, including Sakata seeds, to farmers across the South-West and wider Southern Nigeria.
The Honest Conversation
Both teams spent a good part of the meeting on the real obstacles in Nigerian agriculture:
- Logistics: fuel and transport costs keep climbing
- Labour: skilled farm workers are hard to find
- Paperwork: regulatory processes can be slow and complicated
- Financing: bank interest rates are tough on growing agribusinesses
- Payments: transaction fees on some platforms keep adding up
These pressures build along the value chain, from what it costs to move seed to the price a farmer pays. One of our responses is to encourage distributors to buy in bulk where it makes sense, which means fewer trips and lower logistics costs. We also talked about subsidised inputs and how to make sure they actually reach the farmers they are meant for.
Seeing Is Believing
Selling seed is not our whole job. A farmer who understands a variety will get far more from it.
That is why our field workers run live demonstrations, where farmers can watch different varieties grow in real farming conditions. They learn about planting practices and what each variety offers, and they learn it by watching, not just by reading a product leaflet.
Taking Education Online
We are also taking that education to the digital space. Our webinars already reach farmers, aspiring farmers and seed-sector players, and we plan to increase them to two sessions every month.
We also keep an ear to the ground. Farmer feedback, referrals, testimonials and enquiries tell us what is working and where farmers need more support.
Better Together
The biggest takeaway from the day was that no one fixes agriculture alone. Seed companies, distributors, farmers, financial institutions, government agencies and researchers each have a part to play, and the sector grows fastest when they work together.
For us, the visit was a chance to strengthen that partnership with Sakata around quality seed, farmer education and better access to inputs.
Our goal goes beyond selling products. We want to help farmers make better-informed decisions and build a stronger agricultural value chain. The Sakata visit is another step in that direction.
VD&S: Supporting Farmers. Strengthening Agriculture.