Lake Chad plant breeder raises alarm over high cost of research occasioned by insecurity

A plant breeder Dr. Maryam Dawud of Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) has said the negative impact of insecurity in the North is already taking its toll on cost of  research development just as farmers are already quitting their farms for safety.

Dr. Maryam Dawud, a millet breeder lamented over the high rate of farmers abandonment of farming activities in some parts of the North due to insecurity adding that the negative effect is obvious on farms trials where farmers and extension officers are not readily available to perform research farm trials for modern technologies adoption for easy accessibility and commercialization.

Dawud in an exclusive interview with the Foodfarmnews at the plant breeders fourth national conference held in Abuja said that " insecurity in parts of northern Nigeria is forcing farmers to abandon their homes and farmlands while this is also increasing the cost and logistical challenges of agricultural research"

The millet plant breeder stated that insecurity had totally stopped the breeding trials of her crop in Maiduguri farming communities as some of the materials are being moved to other safer locations with more additional cost of production that was not included in the research.

She pointed out that researchers increasingly relied on collaborators and extension agents in relatively safer locations to conduct crop trials, adding that agricultural scientists are also working with the security and development partners to ensure research activities continuity with an increase in cost of production.

However, Dawud noted that the movement of materials to another location comes with an additional cost because scientists have to travel more frequently to establish trials in alternative locations and work through collaborators and extension personnel.

“Now it involves me going out more frequently than before. So that's where the cost has increased,” she said.

Beyond research, the millet breeder said that farmers in highly insecure communities are bearing a great burden, with some abandoning both their homes and farmlands for safety.

She added many displaced farmers are reluctant to return to their farms because of the trauma they had experienced, pointed that government effort to ensure security must be galvanized.