Nigeria, Jan. 30 -- Like many farmers in Kaduna State, Asma Mirza, has been away from the farm because of the insecurity in the state.

Ms Mirza had been cultivating rice for a while but stopped after the rainy season in 2018 when insecurity in the state made it difficult to continue.

Before taking a break from the farm, she collaborated with Value Seeds Ltd as their out grower of Rice Hybrid Seeds.

On her 30-hectare farm, she cultivated foundation seeds which produced seeds that were collected by the company, to be sold as hybrid seeds to farmers commercial and subsistence use.

Foundation seeds are birthed from breeder seeds.

She was getting an average of 5.6 tonnes of rice per hectare, that is about 56 bags of 100kg. The output usua...