My recommendation for Nat. award is LCRI hard work, says Olabanji

 The former Executive Director {ED) , Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) Dr. Oluwasina Olabanji has attributed the request of the President, African Development Bank ( AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina as a nominee for National Award to his Institute’s resilience on making Nigerian wheat very competitive in the global market through improved varieties availability to farmers.  

Dr. Olabanji disclosed this during an interview with Food Farm News recently at Ibadan while responding to question on how he feels about the AfBD president’s recommendation of him to President Mohammadu Buhari for national award for his achievement on  backward integration of wheat in Nigeria towards food security and mitigation of import bill annually, saying all these can be attributed to hard work of entire Institute, and the support of Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of FG and International Centre for Research Development (ICARDA) that made improved seeds available.

Olabanji said that the ability of LCRI to showcase its capacity in terms of technologies was what convinced the then Minister of Agriculture, and now President of AfDB to included wheat  into ATA program having being convinced  Nigeria can compete in the global production of wheat to feed herself and mitigate foreign exchange on importation as it was not initially among the crops  involved.

He stated that ‘’ If you will recall during the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the Federal Government (FG) during the regime of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan with Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina as the minister, wheat was not initially included in the ATA program because it was not seen as competitive. But Lake Chad Research Institute technologies demonstration got the minister convinced that wheat can be included because he believed the Institute has the capacity to make wheat competitive in the global world with production increase from 1.5- 2 ton per hectare to 5-6tons which the minister saw on the farmers’ field’’

The former LCRI ED attributed the progress wheat has made in the economic development of Nigeria through backward integration towards ensuring food security and job creations among farmers to the intervention of the FG through inclusion in the ATA program with support of improved seeds from International Centre for Agricultural Research Institute (ICARDA), saying that ‘’ the intervention of ICARDA and  ATA programs have helped us to get improved varieties that are heat tolerant as we research into them to make them adaptable to our own environment’’

‘’ And that is why under the ATA program we are able to release six varieties for irrigated wheat productions, and two varieties for rain-fed in just four years of operation, and that is why i am convinced that Nigeria can be wheat sufficient if we continued with this political will of government’’  said Dr. Olabanji 

It will be recalled that President of AfDB, Dr. Adesina had in a public function sometime last year had recommended Dr. Olabanji for National award for his resilience and hard work with his team for the development of wheat value chain in Nigeria as the country spent huge sum of foreign exchange on its importation.