IAR 2015 Cropping and REFILs, stakeholders crave better research funding

The year 2015 Cropping Scheme and Research Extension Farmer Inputs Linkage System ( REFILs) meetings hosted by the Institute for Agricultural Research(IAR), Samaru for Researchers, Scientists, Farmers, Technocrats, Extension officials and other inputs stakeholders has  vehemently advocated for more government intervention and funding of research to more improved farming technologies towards making available more commercial productions for business purposes in agriculture.

Although all the stakeholders also commended the proactiveness of the IAR in the provision of improved technologies adaptable to the North West Region of the Nigerian ecologies and beyond the coast which is evident with the release of many crop varieties and mechanical technology that have been released to the farming communities.

The occasion attracted the presence of All Farmers Association of Nigeria with the presence of the all the states chairmen of the region which include Zamfara, Sokoto, Katisna, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi, Kebbi and Jigawa that were led to the venue by the National President, Architect Kabiru Ibrahimwho promised that his association will join effort with the Research Institute to advocate for more funding to agricultural research and extension saying this is what would enhance commercial production in a competitive ways.

In his speech at the opening section, the new Executive Director, Prof. M. F Ishiyaku who took over from late Prof. Mustapha Falaki said that 2015 cropping scheme is coming at a time when the Institute is battling with financial challenges occasioned by the Federal government’s 80% budgetary reduction to research Institutes adding that “despite this shortfall in funding, we have recorded significant milestone in the period under review. Our scientists in the 2014 growing season conducted a total of two hundred and forty four crops different researches. The area covered include genetic improvement of our mandate crops, crop protection, irrigation, farm mechanization, crop production management practices, economics and extension etc. 

Accordingly two new Sorghum hybrids (CSR-HO4 and CSR-HO3) with high yields of up to 4.03 tons per hectare and good malting quality were released in 2014. Also in 2014, IAR released two new maize hybrids, yellow and white (Sammaz41 and Sammaz 42) each with potential yield of eight tons per hectare. To this day, IAR has developed and released 26 varieties of groundnut, 13 for cotton, 14 for cowpea as well as 41 for sorghum and 42 for maize. We have also made substantial progress preparatory to the release of farmer preferred and industry demanded Artemisia, Jatropha, Sunflower and Castor varieties”

Despite this recorded achievements, some constraints due to very low funding were also faced in the year under review as some projects have to be suspended which could have impacted positively on the agricultural production in the region.

In the face of the recently signed biotechnology bill by the President Goodluck Jonathan to law in Nigeria, IAR according to Prof. Ishiyaku has been able to extablish a laboratory called bio- reactor which has capacity to multiply for farmers’ disease free sugarcane seedling in collaboration with National Sugar Development Council (NSDC). 

“We have made in routes in modern trends in science especially in biotechnology at the Institute and National levels through introgression of Bt transgenic into local cowpea for the control of insect pest-maruca, developed protocols for rapid micro-propagation of pineapple, cryopreservation of groundnut, micro- propagation of sugarcane and protocol for large scale production of artemisinine (the active ingredient for the treatment of malaria) in vitro. I am glad to inform you that the IAR in conjunction with the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC) has extablished a biotechnology research laboratory (bio-reactor) with capacity to multiply for our farmers millions of disease free sugarcane seedlings in the Institute”

Despite this recorded achievements, farming systems research faced some challenges due to very low funding in the year under review as some projects have to be suspended which could have impacted positively on the agricultural production in the region. Among these are tillage effect on soil quality and yield of maize in an Alfisols of the Northern Nigerian and Guinea Savanna of Nigeria.

Others are: Performance of Rice (Oryza sative L) varieties as Influenced by green manuring and its combination with NPK fertilizer at  Kadawa, (iii) effect of Tillage, fertilizer and sorghum/desmodium intercrop in soil quality and yield of sorghum in an Alfisol of Nigerian Guine svanna of Nigeria, (iv) Productivity of castor/sorghum mixtures as influenced by row arrangement and mineral fertilizer rates. (v) Soil quality changes resulting from tillage practices and residue management in Samaru Area. (vi) Effect of tillage, rhizobium inoculation and cropping system on the productivity of a savanna Alfisol (student thesis-awaiting external examination) (vii) On-farm testing of plant arrangement and improved varieties in cereal/cowpea and cotton/cowpea intercrops. 

 The funding challenges was also noticeable in the year under review on the Technology Review Meeting (TRMs) as many of the states in the region could not hold its meetings that meant to provide knowledge and skill training programme for extension staff of the ADPs and select farmers as means of train the trainers. This issue has been a recurring one which created all of concern to the stakeholders.

Prof. Aba, an Assistant Director IAR stressed that it is imperative for the ADPs in the region to be inviting the officials of the Institute to any of their TRM for the purpose of better scientific training and technologies transfer to the train the trainers saying the invitation would have no cost implication but rather is a part of the obligation for the development of the sector on the part of IAR.

Stakeholders however solicited that state governments in the region should be responsive to funding ADPs so as to enhance the improved technologies transfer to farmers in each state of the zone just as Non Governmental Organizations are also called upon in this regards with AFAN president promising the gathering that his association “as the actual stakeholder in the use of these improved technologies will assist in talking to the government of the zone and also solicit fund support for research development and the ADPs. We believe the new government will do more to farmers. In time to come farmers will contribute to research funding”  

One critical issue on why NASC should not give certification for crops like yam, sweet potoato and cassava generated a lot of argument and counter argument from stakeholders as the North West Regional official Mr Ubandoma  Hudu of the seed council said all effort is ongoing in terms of capacity to ensure this is done adding that those crops are being  certified by IITA in collaboration with National Root Research Institute, Umudike. 

 Notable observation at the meeting

1.      There are lots of problems ravaging the agricultural sector of Nigeria that are preventing the improvement in Nigerian agriculture.

2.      The country is in a transition period and a new government will soon be put in place with new policies which might affect the agricultural sector of the country. 

3.      There is gross inadequacy in the number of Extension Agents (EAs) servicing farmers in the country which is preventing adequate dissemination of research findings.

4.      Poor funding of ADPs is a general problem that cripples most of the ADPs’ activities especially the Extension Programmes aired in both electronic and print media in all the States of North-west zone of Nigeria.

5.      There is reasonable efficiency in the government’s Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES)   fertilizer distribution system which greatly reduced the scarcity of fertilizer as at the time of need by the farmers in the country.

6.      There is a need to congratulate the Government of Kano State for the establishment of five Agricultural      Training Institutes on Poultry farming, Horticulture, Fishery, Mechanization and Irrigation. 

7.      Participation of AFAN in REFILS will ensure popularization of IAR activities which will encourage Government to fund research.

8.      The Value chain Approach, involving interaction of relevant stakeholders in commodity chain has the potential to ‘pull’ Research for Development (R4D) in the Nigerian Agricultural sector.  

RESOLUTIONS

1.      Research institutes and farmers should sit together and come up with all problems affecting agriculture and suggest possible solutions to these problems for presentation to the government in order to re-engineer the Nigerian agriculture.

 

2.      Advocacy visits should be embarked upon by the Federal Department of Agricultural Extension Services (FDAE) along with other relevant stakeholders including farmers groups to sensitize incoming administration in various States.

3.      Kano State was commended for establishing five Agricultural Training Institutes, other States in the country were encouraged to emulate them.

4.      The Nigerian Government should support the Extension Services by increasing the number of Extension Agents to eliminate the gross inadequacy of the number of EAs.

5.      The Government should provide enabling environment for Private Extension Service Providers. 

6.      The various State Governments in the zone should be encouraged to increase funding of ADPs in their States to enhance provision of effective agricultural extension service to farmers.

7.      The workshop also advocates the sustainability of the GES inputs supply system of the Federal Government to ensure transparency and timely distribution of inputs to farmers.

Communique Team

1. Prof C.A. Echekwu (OjokoK’Otukpo)         Chairman

2. Prof S. A. Sanni                                           Member

3. Onwuemeka A.M.                                        Member

4. Okunlaya A.M                                             Member

5. Dodo Y.B                                                    Member

6. Prof Dauda Ishaya                                        Secretary

NAQS: UK test confirms Nigerian cowpea standard

There is high tendency that majority of the Nigeria agricultural produce facing rejection in United Kingdom (UK) is being politically motivated by other competitors who conspired with the foreign officials to create unnecessary bottle neck especially to our cowpea that has been confirmed standard through a laboratory test conducted there.

This revelation is coming on the heels of incessant turning back of Nigerian agricultural produce abroad especially in UK where premium are placed on organically and naturally grown crops with reference to a particular woman whose case of cowpea is presently proving a point of deliberate action on the part of the United Kingdom official in connival with other foreign countries who deliberately wanted to make market entrance difficult for personal benefit under the guise of sub standard products.

Presently, a case study of a woman whose imported cowpea to UK was being turned back due to residue chemical is already unveiling the conspiracy scam that is behind many of the Nigerian agricultural produce always being returned abroad in the name of sub-standard as a source from the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) has confirmed the standard of the produce through a laboratory test conducted in UK at a very low cost compared to ours.

At a public function on cottage industry stakeholder in Nigeria organized by the Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (FMARD) at Ibadan, Mr. A.O Ogunfunmilayo stressed that UK officials’ deliberate action is being sponsored by other completing countries who felt threatened that Nigeria agricultural produce might hijacked the European market if they folded their hands doing nothing just as he added that a laboratory in UK has confirmed the woman’s cowpea as not having chemical residual.

The NAQS official said that the passionate effort of ensuring the Nigeria cowpea being accepted in UK has necessitated the taking of the four sample varieties of cowpea for both local and international testing with the UK laboratory confirming the Nigerian cowpea free of any form of chemical residual thereby declaring it standard for global market.

A source also confirmed that most of the time these conspirators also ensured that Nigerian Agricultural produce are being abandoned for several hours so as to loss certain potency that will not make them meet the qualified standard by the time they are ready to be tested adding this action has denied many of the country’s agricultural produce from entering UK.

Another source said it is a deliberate act done on the bases of lowering the price of the produce for their selfish economic gains adding most of those produce have got the certification of the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service before leaving the shore of the country. 

The Federation Agricultural Commodities Association of Nigeria (FACAN) domiciled at the Federal Ministry of Trade and Commerce in its spirited effort to ensure standard production of agricultural produce had severally trained and created awareness in the need for Global Agricultural Practices for reason of reducing the incessant turning back of our export in UK.

ARCN feud: Stakeholders decry centralized Agricultural Research Institutes

There seems to be no end to argument between the management of Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) and its local workers’ union who have insisted that the directive from the office of the Head of service of the federation concerning three directors who have exhausted their eight year term must be carried just as stakeholders have condemned any move that will put annual budget allocations of about 25 research institutes in the sector under the same organization.

Food Farm News investigation revealed that the directive of the Head of Service to the management of the ARCN under the leadership of Prof. B.Y Abubakar since last year is yet to be executed and this has resulted to feud and cold war between the management and the workers ‘union who have promised to down tools in case the instruction is not followed.

It was gathered that the ARCN management has embarked on an intensive move to upturn the act guiding the operation of the organization in a selfish way and to the detriment of the other growing officers in the system as they wanted services of the retiring directors to be determined with same age limit of 65 like what is operational in the Research Institutes thereby relegating the civil service rule of sixty years retirement to the background. 

In the letter sent through the office of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina by the head of service dated 29^th January, 2015 responding to the earlier demand of ARCN tilted “Request for clarification on the retirement age of technical director in the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria: Request for reconsideration” and signed by  Mr. Kehinde Adeyemi, it was stated that “ Research Council of Nigeria is a regulatory and policy coordinating body for Agricultural Research Institutes owned by the Federal Government. Its role is similar to those of the National Universities Commission (NUC) which is the regulatory body for universities, but whose staff retires at 35 years of service or 60 years of age. The rationale provided by the council is insufficient to establish and classify the council as a research organization. Accordingly the staff of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria is not eligible to retire at sixty five (65) years of age”

Meanwhile the union workers under the aegis of Joint Action Committee in the ARCN chapter have vowed that they will not allow the management to carry out their plan of ensuring the elongation of the directors that are affected with the directive from the office of the Head of service of the federation saying all of them should relinquish their office for the up growing officers of the organization.

In a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting with Executive Secretary of the council, the workers were asking that all staffs that are above the age of 60 years and those who have spent 35 years should go in accordance to the directive of the office of the Head of service of the federation.

Finding revealed that the ARCN management is working at converting the three retiring directors’ appointment into contract job for another tenure which the union is frantically kicking against as a source informed us that the fear of who will fill the capability gap of these outgoing technical staffs is the bane of the decline to workers’ demand.

It was stated by the union that ARCN board had approved the contract appointment of these three technical directors who are main subjects of the sent circular thereby demanding that all the official properties of the office in their possession must be immediately withdrawn.

Meanwhile our finding also revealed that all the budgetary allocation of all the Agricultural Research Institutes in the country may soon be centralized under the ARCN as underground effort is ongoing to achieve this.

Although many stakeholders have raised alarm of what damage such action could cause the research development in the country saying it is going to be total distraction as much of the time of the Executive Directors of these Institutes will be spent in the ARCN all in the name of waiting to collect allocations.

Many under anonymity said that Nigerian University Commission (NUC) has been playing the role of ARCN over all the country’s universities without necessarily demanding for centralized budgetary allocation of these citadels saying this move will bring catastrophic to agricultural research development just as many other people acknowledged the proactiveness of the present leadership of the council.

Editorial:Need to build capacity for the signed bio technology bill

The signing by the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) into law the bio-technology bill has finally put to rest all controversies on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) of plants and animals in the country.

In fact the signing of this bill is a reflection of government’s responsiveness to creating enabling environment for the operation of the new technology as some of them are already taking advantages of our porous security borders to find their ways into the country thereby heightening the curiosity of wrecking negative havoc on human health.

Most importantly considering the effect of climate change in quest to building of the non oil sector of the nation’s economy, then the injection of the new technology into our economy may not be out of place coupled with the increasing population in the face of food insecurity and its associated challenges occasioned by climate change.

Day by Day conventional crops and animals are being destroyed due to inability to give resistance to diseases and pest with conventional science has not got solution unless the use or application of a stronger means of biotechnology through genes enhancement from another source to build resistance against pests like the case of bt cowpea and bt cotton which farmers are now demanding to plant for better yield. 

We share the view that Nigeria in the face of taking agriculture as a business cannot but embrace a technology like Bt to assist farmers from losses and over head cost as it is worthy of note that GMO plants may not need fertilizers application or any other pest chemicals to grow as all these may not be necessary again. 

As much as we are aware of all these advantages, the practice of this new technology in the country is still a question of doubt to us and many others who believe  that the issue of capacity of government’s agencies that will ensure the efficient practice of the bio technology are seriously in doubt, and government needs to come up with a position paper that will guarantee safety. We are aware that the poor funding of research in Nigeria might not give sufficient capacity to majority of the Agricultural Research Institutes who have great role to play in the research, testing and certification of the new products that will be entering the country before farmers are allowed to use them so as to avoid further land depletion. 

 We may want to know how prepared is agencies like NAFDAC, Nigeria Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC), Bio-technology Council, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service, Nigerian Custom Service, Nigerian Consumers’ Council and the rest in this line that will ensure efficient operation of the new technology. It is no more news that government disposition to research development is day by day going below the stomach belt and which is one of the reasons for our great concern on the need for building capacity of the relevant agencies who are to ensure the smooth operation of the bill thereby allaying the fears of those who are totally against it  as their arguments are that we have not exhausted all the  conventional scientific methods available before jumping into bio technology practice or legally allowing the entrance of its products into the country.

In as much we do not want to throw this issue into argument because of our knowledge of what its practice would attract in terms of new economic development especially in the face of dwindling oil price in the world, we are compelled to advise that a special fund must be put in place for capacity building in this regards so that our land is not flooded with products that might create what we did not bargain for thereby shortening the quality of our lands and as well putting food security issue in more tight corners.  

Subsistence is limiting the use of improved seeds - Premier Seeds MD Prof. Ogungbile

The practicing of subsistence farming in Africa and Nigeria particularly has been attributed to none maximum utilizations of improved quality seeds by small holders’ farmers who still plant grains as seeds not knowing that the yield of a grain cannot be compared to the higher yield the improved ones can provide. 

Speaking, the Managing Director, Premier Seeds Nigeria Limited, Prof.  A.O Ogungbile who commended the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) of the Federal Government said that commercialization of agriculture as business will be the most effective tool that would make farmers see reason in using improved quality seeds for maximum yield on a small expanse of land saying subsistence farming may not really make farmers see the need as long as the grain planted still give yield for their immediate family consumption.

Prof. Ogungbile stressed that the ecology advantages of our soils in Nigeria is so good that both grains and improved seeds can be planted, and both will still give yield but pointing that the difference will be in yield quantity which a small holders may not necessary count as important as long as he sees the one that can keep his home and family alive thereby seeing no reason why grains cannot be planted.

He added  only the people doing agriculture as business  will consider land expanse to quality of improved seeds that will give a maximum yield for the purpose of processing and packaging for marketing in a competitive way thereby emphasizing the need why commercial agriculture is very strategic to our economic development in terms of job creation.

“Our small scale farmers are very poor, they cannot afford to buy quality seeds and God is so faithful to us by the nature of our soils which can grow both improved seeds and even grains when both are planted. Many farmers plant grains instead of improved seeds as long as the yield harvested can cater for himself and the home alone. 

The use of improved seeds by farmers cannot grow to capacity with this kind of thinking except when agriculture are taken from subsistence farming to commercial farming ” say Prof. Ogungbile.

He however commended the effort of the outgoing government for her effort on GES saying the new incoming government should continue with this policy but advised on the need to adjust some areas of the process that needed to be well articulated to make the inputs distribution more efficient for the purpose of continuity with prompt payment to companies supplying these inputs in order to avoid high bank interest rate occasioned by default.

 He that” delay in payment makes us to loss our profit as commercial banks will deduct their money from the source since the payment will be paid into their accounts, and the moment the agreement date of single digit of 9% is not met, then that means we will be charged on the compound interest rate of 18% which would have eaten all the profit as payment is always delayed due to process involved”