IITA wins Outstanding Research Institute Award

IITA

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has received the Outstanding Research Institute award from the Nigeria-based Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL).

IITA was honored for its sterling leadership in agricultural research in Nigeria in particular, and sub Saharan Africa in general.

In a letter to the Director General, IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga; the Chief Executive Officer of CVL and copied to the GNA, Professor Pat Utomi wrote: 'I write to appreciate IITA for its laudable contributions towards economic growth in Nigeria and also inform you that the CVL team has specifically selected your organization as one of the honorees at the upcoming CVL Agriculture Sector celebration.

Your recognition is under the Category of Outstanding Research Institute (i.e. a prestigious recognition given to research institutes for their valuable contribution through research, publications, trainings, and advocacy)

Receiving the award, Dr Sanginga dedicated the prize to African farmers especially women, who in spite of all odds, have remained a pillar of food security on the continent.

'We are proud of this honor and it demands that we do more to lift more people out of poverty,' Dr Sanginga who was represented by Dr Gbassey Tarawali, Head of IITA Abuja Station, said.

Since assumption of office, Dr Sanginga embarked on a radical transformation of the Institute with a vision of bringing 11 million people out of poverty, and reclaiming 7.5 million hectares of degraded land and putting that back into sustainable use.

The Institute's strategy emphasizes generating research outputs and having impacts on farm level. Consequently, IITA became a major player under Nigeria's Agricultural Transformation, playing a critical role in crop improvement, and value addition.

CVL estimates that Nigeria's agricultural sector, which comprises crop production, livestock, forestry, and fishing contributed 26.63 per cent in real terms to the nation's Gross Domestic Product as at the third quarter of 2014, as against 20.89 per cent in second quarter of the same year.

Prof Utomi said: 'We are also aware that Nigeria was declared the biggest economy in Africa and one of the 11 global growth generators last year by The Economist in April 2014.

This rapid growth has been accounted for based on the contributions of key sectors (particularly non-oil sectors) of the economy.

To further sustain this status, the CVL Economic Growth Sector Celebration Series was initiated to continually identify, honor and celebrate outstanding sectors that have immensely added value in a particular year.

The high profile event attracted top executives and entrepreneurs showcasing the immense contributions of the agricultural sector to Nigeria's economic growth and making them serve as exemplars to other sectors.

IITA’s Cassava Weed Management Project Signs MoU With SON

IITA Cassava Weed Management Project

The Cassava Weed Management Project, managed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON).

This is contained in a statement signed by the IITA Communications Officer, Mr Godwin Atser, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Ibadan.

According to IITA, the MoU is to foster cooperation for the development and implementation of collaborative programmes, while highlighting the framework for partnership between both organizations.

Areas covered in the MoU include the exchange of scientific information and development of specific cooperative programmes and projects, especially in the areas of standardization.

The Weed Management Project Leader, Dr Alfred Dixon, described the signing of the MoU as a remarkable milestone in the efforts to address the problem of weeds in cassava farms in Nigeria.

“The weed challenge is a huge task and we need all hands to be on deck to solve this problem.
“The IITA Cassava Weed Management Project is employing the use of best-bet agronomic practices, mechanical weed control options, use of environmentally friendly herbicides, and the integration of the three options to control weeds.

“So far, the project has procured and is adapting mechanical weeders in collaboration with Nigerian engineers.

“Once completed, local fabricators will be trained on the fabrication of these weeders for onward dissemination to farmers,’’ Dixon was quoted as saying. (NAN)

Director Urges FCT Farmers To Form Cooperatives

maize farm

Mr Salami Abdullahi, Deputy Director, FCT Agricultural Development Project (ADP), has called on farmers in the territory to form cooperatives to enhance access to finance and input delivery services.

He made the call on Thursday in Gwagwalada at a stakeholders’ workshop on the Implementation Strategy for Community Business Net (CBNet).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by the FCT ADP in collaboration with Agricnat Consult Limited.

Abdullahi said that CBNet was intended to enlighten farmers on the fact that agriculture was a business and should not be seen as avenue for them to be assisted by the government.

“We encourage them to form cooperatives and farmers’ groups to enable them have their internal self help mechanism.

“This is important because it helps in the process of identification and being able to interface effectively with each other.

“It can also help to scale up their productivity and key into the processes they created for themselves in areas of finance and input delivery services,” he said.

Abdullahi said the essence was to create a platform to mentor the farmers on the business aspect of agriculture.

He added that the idea was to create a market place for interchange of technology and services with the farmers to enhance their productivity.
 
“Over the years the banks have developed phobia in lending to farmers because the recovery or the payment system is low and expensive because of the disperse nature of the farmers.

“We want to use this system to create that confidence because we have a one-stop shop to enable them have confidence that somebody is there who knows exactly which farmer is getting what.
Mr Phinehas Uankhoba, a participant at the workshop, called on the government to develop deliberate programme and policies to attract youths to agriculture.

He also called on the government to re-direct its investment in commercial banks for agricultural purposes to Agricultural Banks where agricultural proposals and investments could easily be understood. (NAN)

Minister Assures Nigerians Of Wheat Production Increase, Import Reduction

Chief Audu Ogbeh

The minister of agriculture and rural development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has decried the huge sums of money spent on food importation.

Speaking on Tuesday in Kura, Kano State, during the flag-off of the 2015 dry season wheat and rice production in the state, Chief Ogbe faulted the N1.3 trillion annually expended on importation of assorted food commodities into the country.

Also speaking at the occasion, the state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, promised to help the farmers improve productivity and objected to the idea of continuing to use agriculture to manage poverty.
“In Kano State, agriculture is now to be treated as a business,” he said, adding that the state is trying to transform agriculture into viable economic activities.

Ganduje said, “We urgently need an approach to improve agricultural production, with sound agricultural policies to back it up.”

He announced that the state’s wheat farming programme has registered 18,200 farmers as part of the priority attention given it by his government.

Dr. Gbenga Olabanji, executive director of Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI) having the national mandate for genetic development of wheat, noted that Nigeria has the potential for wheat production and is able to produce wheat yielding 8 tons per hectare. He said Nigeria has 600,000 hectares of land that is good for wheat production.

“The production capacity has increased from 1 to 2 tons per hectare to 5 to 6 tons per hectare through improved varieties.

Adamawa Farmers Demands Disbursement Of N2bn Agric Loan

farmland

Adamawa State farmers yesterday demanded the disbursement of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) N2bilion agricultural loan which the state government procured since 2014.

Spokesman of the farmers, Mallam Abdulmumini Hussaini noted that the loan has since 2014 when it was procured, been lying low in government accounts while the farmers who ought to benefit from it are living in penury.

He said, “ We had to petition the state assembly over the withholding of the fund by the last administration of Governor Bala Ngilari.

“A committee was set up by the then house which discovered that about N700 million of the money was used by the administration to buy foodstuffs for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) leaving behind the sum of N1.3 billion for the present administration”, Hussaini said.

Hussaini noted that following the non release of the remaining N1.3 billion to them, they booked an appointment with the incumbent governor and lay their complaint following which the governor directed them to the ministry of agriculture.

He explained that when they visited the commissioner of agriculture, they were told that out of the money, only N210 million was available for disbursement to farmers.

NCF, Oxfam train farmers on climate change adaptation

Nigerian Conservation Foundation, NCF and Oxfam have formed a synergy geared towards improving the resilience of small scale farmer’s, aimed at adapting to climate change.

With the initiative tagged, Farmers Field School (FFS), the farmers are prepared on measures against climate change as well as its effects on food crops. This measure will also make small scale farmers to cope with the negative effects of climate change.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the initiative in Omo J4 Forest Reserve, the Chief Conservation Officer, NCF, Adedamola Ogunsesan said though, the menace of climate change and its numerous effects is a global issue, but each country will develop its strategy, aimed at ameliorating the impacts on human lives as well as agricultural productions to tackle issues of food security.

According to him, Ogun state like other states in the country, is faced with low food harvest due to lack of ineffective farming practices by farmers and inadequate knowledge to effectively manage the effects of climate change on food crop production.

He therefore noted that farmers in rural communities should be equipped with knowledge on how to tackle climate-induced poor yields, poor soil fertility, low nutrient retaining ability, abnormal flow of rain fall as well as spreading of common and uncommon diseases.

“Adaptation strategies are short and long-term changes to human activities that respond to the effects of changes in climate. In agriculture, adaptation will require cost-effective investments in water infrastructure, emergency preparation for and response to extreme weather events, development of resilient crop varieties that tolerate temperature and precipitation stresses, and new or improved land use and management practices”.

The initiatives are also interested in the use of indigenous knowledge as adaptation strategies. According to the NCF Field Officer in OMO Forest Reserve, Clifford Omonu, the initiative requires grassroots experiments, regular field observations and group analysis among others.

The knowledge gained from these activities would enable participants to make their own locally-specific decisions about crop practices and management as it affects them.

This approach represents a shift from earlier agricultural programmes; in which farmers were compelled to adopt generalized recommendations for a better outcome.

The purpose of this initiative is to establish a regular Farmers Field School (FFS) in nine communities in Omo Forest as well as train and build farmers capacities for climate change adaptation while reducing human pressure on forest resources in the forest.

“We will train some farmers in these nine selected communities of Area J4, Aberu, Mile 1 village, Osoko, Olooji, Aba kurudu, Abeku 1, Eleyele London and Abeku Temidere” Omonu said.

OPINION: Keep Family Farms in Business with Youth Agripreneurs

Nteranya Sanginga, Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Courtesy of IITA

IBADAN, Nigeria, Nov 23 2015 (IPS) - Finding a way to allow youth to contribute their natural and ample energies to productive causes is increasingly the touchstone issue that will determine future prosperity.

It is a tragic irony that today’s youth, despite being the most educated generation ever, struggle to be included.

That’s true in advanced countries. But it is even more true in Africa, where almost two-thirds of the jobless are young adults, whose ranks swell by 10 to 12 million new members each year. The challenge is staggering in scale: Today there are 365 million Africans aged 15 to 35, and over the next 20 years that figure will double.

There is no magic wand. It is youth themselves who must find a solution. Everyone else – governments, international organizations, the private sector, social groups and parents – has a huge stake in their success and so must not stand in the way. Normally one hears about the need to help cast in elaborate theories based on the need for redistribution. But the truth is, we need a step change.

That’s the spirit the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is adopting with our “agripreneur” coaching programmes. These aim to use self-help groups so that people can indeed help themselves. As I bluntly told a group of youth in Uganda, we will provide support in the form of technology, knowledge and advocacy, but the real activity has to be done by themselves. Another message was: “be aggressive.”

It is well known that Africa is a vast land of family farmers, many living in rural areas and regularly struggling with poverty and hunger. Figures can also be easily made to show how most family farms are exercises in subsistence, and don’t always succeed without external help.

Family farming is a way of life, to be sure. But that does not mean, when you really think about it, that it cannot be done as a business. Doing so would represent a change, but the time has come. Making agriculture a commercial trade offers a set of new tools to entice talented youth to a sector we all know they tend to run away from.

As Akinwumi Adesina, formerly Nigeria’s agriculture minister and now the president of the African Development Bank, likes to say, “Africa’s future millionaires and billionaires will make their money from agriculture.”

And it is quite likely that youth, being in a proverbial rush, will accelerate the transformations that will lead to better lives than a mad rush to cities where employment prospects aren’t keeping pace with urban population. Moreover, agriculture has been the weak link in terms of productivity growth across the continent – that means there is an enormous upside to doing it better.

Knowledge needs pollinators. While extension services are excellent and should be upgraded, young people are natural communicators when they think something is cool and useful. That’s what agriculture has to be.
IITA’s agripreneur campaign hinges on our version of a Silicon Valley hackathon. Incubators are created to allow youth to learn and exchange ideas of a practical nature – about how to keep accounts, new crops and farming techniques, the myriad possibilities of agricultural value chains that include roles for seed traders, food processors, weather forecasters, insurance salespeople, marketing specialists.

One of our agripreneur “interns” told me that what he took away was that success is not in fact all down to money. An enterprise really needs ideas, of course, and the ability to plan.

To be clear, his enthusiasm – as so many of our alumni say – was about the possibility of enterprise. Call it agribusiness. Agricultural commodity value chains provide just that, a series of transactional opportunities that work to improve efficiency for all and reward the talented. This is a major catalyst for youth. After all, it opens the door for the professionalization of agriculture.

To be sure, the agribusiness model crucially requires inclusive efforts to make sure credit is available to youth, to assure that gender equity becomes an operational assumption rather than just a goal, and a host of public goods including scientific research. Yet it begins with a changed mind set.

People must learn how to apply for a loan. Bankers always say they wish to fund on the basis of a business plan rather than collateral. It is time to put that to the test. IITA’s focus on agripreneurs is a well-placed bet on the idea that nobody learns faster than youth.

Colombian Farmers Take BP To UK Court Over Oil Pipeline

Signage for a BP gas station in London,

A group of Colombian farmers this week began legal proceedings against British oil giant BP over allegations that an oil pipeline caused serious damage to their land and crops. The case is one of the largest international environmental lawsuits of its kind and marks the first time BP will face a U.K. court for its actions overseas.

The trial, which began Wednesday, is expected to last for four months. The 109 farmers are arguing for British company Equion Energia, formerly BP Exploration (Colombia) Limited, to pay out $28.6 million for what they say is negligence in building the Ocensa pipeline in the mid-1990s.

It’s rare to see a case like this litigated in the U.K., analysts say. “The avenues for extraterritorial claims for victims of alleged human rights abuses have been shrinking, both in Europe and in North America,” said Mauricio Lazala, deputy director of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a London-based nonprofit organization that monitors human rights in businesses around the world.

The amount of damages being sought was large for an environmental case, Lazala said. The $28.6 million sum might be dwarfed by the $9.5 billion in damages charged to Chevron in Ecuador’s blockbuster environmental lawsuit. (That settlement was later ruled fraudulent by a U.S. district judge.) “But that case involved damage to health, alleged cancer and death, while here in this Colombia case it’s purely environmental damage.”

The farmers say the Ocensa oil pipeline, the longest in Colombia, caused soil erosion, degraded water quality, harmed vegetation and pasture areas and threatened their livelihoods. “After the pipeline was laid, our water sources filled up with mud,” said Rodrigo de Jesus Mesa, a 63-year-old subsistence farmer who traveled to London to testify, according to the Guardian. “It made farming very difficult – but I can’t even sell the farm because of the pipeline.”

The farmers are being represented by British law firm Leigh Day, which litigates personal injury and product liability cases in addition to international human rights claims. Leigh Day is also representing members of Nigeria’s Bodo community in their lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell for damages allegedly caused by two oil spills.

Shubhaa Srinivasan, a partner at Leigh Day, said it was particularly meaningful that some of the farmers would be giving testimony at the trial in London, saying it was often "daunting" for them to speak out against large corporations like BP. "Having them able to tell their stories [in court] will have a significant impact worldwide," she said.

A separate group of Colombian farmers secured a settlement with BP in 2006 for an undisclosed amount over damage caused by the pipeline. But this time, BP has altered its strategy and chosen to fight the lawsuit in court.

“The Ocensa pipeline project in Colombia involved significant steps being taken at the time of construction to engage with local communities, make appropriate compensation payments and ensure that the land that the pipeline traversed suffered no material damage,” BP said in a statement. “BP believes that these measures were effective and that the construction of the pipeline was carried out to a high standard.”

Other companies facing similar allegations overseas will be watching the trial carefully. “This case will send a message to all U.K.-based companies that their conduct abroad can be litigated here in the U.K.,” Lazala said. BP’s decision to fight the lawsuit this time could also send a message to people considering similar suits that they would be in for a lengthy battle rather than an out-of-court settlement, he noted.

The Nigerian Agricultural Sector Needs to Dwell Less on the Rhetoric of its Predecessors

Nigeria’s food import is growing by about 11 percent per annum, with top imports including wheat, rice, sugar and fish. The last administration made many attempts to unlock Nigeria’s agricultural potential as the country contains 84 million hectares of arable land, of which only 40 percent is utilized. More alarmingly, only around 0.8 percent of arable land is even irrigated, compared to the 28 percent that is in Thailand. Although there are approximately 110 million young people in the work force, due to low wages for laborers in the agricultural sector, food production has largely been left to the elderly.

Nigeria possesses nearly 279 billion cubic meters of surface water, yet potential sources of irrigation from two of the major rivers in Africa – the Niger and Benue Rivers – remain unexploited. The primary challenge at hand is how to increase agricultural productivity. Yields per hectare are only 20-50 percent of comparable yields in developing countries like Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia and this leaves much room for improvement. In terms of input, Nigeria has one of the lowest usage rates. Mechanization intensity remains low (perhaps 10 tractors per 1000 hectares compared to Indonesia’s 241 tractors per 100 hectares).

The last administration tried to tackle this menace by establishing the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) under Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the current African Development Bank (AFDB) President. The ATA essentially called for people to start treating agriculture like a business by integrating food production, storage, processing and industrial manufacturing through value chains, focusing on sectors where Nigeria had a comparative advantage. It also included plans to adopt import substitution measures to drive sector growth and investment-driven strategic partnerships with the private sector. Adesina’s major achievement and the hallmark of his tenure was the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) for fertilizer and seed distribution. This ended nearly four decades of corruption by eliminating direct procurement and distribution of seeds and fertilizer, enabling private sector seed and fertilizer companies to sell directly to farmers. As a database of around 15 million farmers was developed, along with an email wallet for input delivery, the need for middlemen was erased. Unfortunately, as it now stands, the previous administration ended up owing millions of dollars to fertilizer and seed companies.

Still, this policy should be continued, along with the Staple Crop Processing Zone (SCPZ) concept, which strives to boost import substitution and create wealth for farming communities. The SCPZ will enhance the development of rural farming neighborhoods through the building-up of modern processing capacity in agricultural production clusters. Through this process, farming productivity in such clusters will be supported in order to sustain processing needs and creating structured markets through organized linkages between farmers and processors. Thirteen such zones were to be created to absorb production in a scheduled manner and address the perennial problems of post-harvest losses. However, most have been created in name only, with minimal impact. It would be good for the incoming minster to fine-tune the SCPZs to fix these deficiencies.

In the area of financing, the government introduced the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN), which will serve small-holder farmers and agribusinesses and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NiRSAL), a Nigerian Central Bank single-digit financing framework for agriculture. The government also provided fiscal incentives to encourage domestic import substitution, including 0 percent duty on agricultural machinery and equipment imports, pioneer tax holiday for agricultural investments, duty waivers and other industry-related incentives to support the private sector. This should be improved as well because its impact so far has been minimal and is seen not to be inclusive enough.

In a nutshell, I would rate the last administration as average, but the current administration should endeavor to walk the walk and dwell less on the rhetoric and grandiose plans of their predecessors. The environment must be conducive to business as agriculture has a long gestation period and the government should be consistent in policy formulation and be an enabler instead of a participant in this endeavor.

HORTSON to hold its 33rd Annual Conference in Abuja

The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the Abuja 2015 33rd Annual Conference of the Horticulture Society of Nigeria (HORTSON) welcomes you to its 33rd Annual Conference holding at the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Mabushi ,Abuja, starting on the 29th November- 4th December.


This year's theme was chosen to emphasize the strong relationship between Horticulture and Food Nutrition Security on the one hand, and its potential for Wealth Creation and Employment Generation thereby contributing to the overall National Security, as a popular adage, " A hungry man is an angry man ".


HORTSON was founded in 1977, 38years ago as a Forum to bring together Scientists, Agricultural Extension Agents, Farmers, Marketers, Processors, Policy Markers, Investors , Corporate Bodies, Research Institutes, Institutions, and other Stakeholders who are concerned with  the improvement in the activities of the various stakeholders along the entire value chain of horticulture. This Conference will feature the latest Advanced Innovations across the entire spectrum of Horticulture, which comprises of Oleiriculture, Pomology and Floriculture.