News
Researchers, policymakers meet in Tanzania to discuss cassava agronomy
Scientists across Africa and their colleagues in other parts of the world are meeting with policymakers in Tanzania under the auspices of the African Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) to discuss the progress made in the last two years in providing clues to the agronomy of cassava.
The meeting, holding 11-15, December, is set review the progress made by the ACAI—a project managed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture— and plan for the year ahead.
The Permanent Secretary, Tanzanian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, while addressing participants at the meeting, expressed optimism that the ACAI project would provide solutions to some of the problems faced by cassava farmers in Tanzania and sub-Saharan Africa.
The Permanent Secretary was represented by Dr Geophrey Kajiru, Assistant Director, Research and Development.
The Tanzanian meeting, which is taking place in Mwanza, will also include a planning workshop for the ACAI 2018 project activities in line with the implementation strategy for year 3 of the project. The meeting is thus organized for planning and setting new goals for the 2018 activities, sharing roles, and understanding the expectations of each party represented in the project.
The event is earmarked to set pace for transitioning into the validation and the onset of dissemination stage of the Decision Support Tools (DSTs).
Dr Bernard Vanlauwe, Director for Central Africa Hub with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), said ACAI would tap into new opportunities and partnerships to ensure sustainability of the project and use of the tools developed.
Through extensive research working with development partners, ACAI has developed the initial version of the decision support tools that will be showcased at the meeting. This will provide an opportunity for the partners to examine the tools and offer feedback on how the prototype DSTs can be improved. ACAI DSTs are developed based on demand and needs identified by development partners actively engaged in cassava value chain.
ACAI’s Senior Systems Agronomist, Dr Pieter Pypers said the interaction among project partners would generate concrete ideas that would be incorporated into the development of the DSTs to make them more useful and user friendly.
“The tools we have developed must meet the needs of the development partners, that is why we are planning for the partners to have a practical feel of the tools in Mwanza and share with us their expectations of the tools,” Dr Pypers added.
Project team members are making presentations on the progress of the work under their specific roles in the project. ACAI is structured in workstreams that inform the project’s critical path through research, development, to the use and dissemination of the final project tools.
Dr Geoffrey Mkamilo, the National Coordinator for Root and Tuber Crops, Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) in Tanzania said the project had made significant gains in 2017 in research especially in meeting the high demand data in ACAI.
“The trials have performed very well, especially when you look at cassava response to fertilizer in the field, we are looking to hear about updates from other project sites,” Dr Adeyemi Olojede, ACAI coordinator at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike said.
The project has achieved significant milestones in 2017, a trend that the core team and partners will be seeking to further in the new season.
The meeting in Tanzania has more than 60 participants representing at least 21 organizations partnering with ACAI in Nigeria and Tanzania.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has initiated enforcement action against five airlines—two international and three domestic operators—for various violations of its regulations under Part 19.
The offenses include non-payment of passenger refunds within the stipulated timeframe, non-responsiveness to NCAA directives, mishandling of luggage, short-landed baggage, delayed and canceled flights, among other infractions.
Addressing journalists at the NCAA’s corporate headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, Michael Achimugu, the Authority’s spokesman, stated that airlines must adhere to regulations regarding flight disruptions. He emphasized that failure to comply attracts sanctions.
“Although airlines are not always responsible for flight disruptions, NCAA regulations stipulate actions that airlines must take during such incidents. Failure to comply attracts various levels of sanctions,” Achimugu said.
He reminded airlines of the NCAA’s recent directive mandating refunds to passengers within 14 days for online ticket purchases and immediate cash refunds for tickets bought with cash.
The yuletide season has seen a rise in passenger complaints about delays and cancellations, largely attributed to harmattan-induced poor visibility. Achimugu clarified that airlines are not liable for cancellations due to force majeure but stressed that the enforcement actions are for cases where airlines are found at fault.
“This is harmattan season, so there is poor visibility. Flights must get canceled. This is force majeure, and the airlines do not owe passengers anything in those instances. The enforcement we are initiating today is on cases where the airline is deemed to have been at fault. More will come,” he explained.
Achimugu further disclosed that the NCAA would summon the chief executives of all airlines this week to address flight disruptions and regulatory breaches.
While the names of the sanctioned airlines were not officially revealed, sources close to the Authority identified them as Ethiopian Airways, Royal Maroc Airways, Arik Air, Aero Contractors, and Air Peace.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Nentawe Yilwatda, has announced the Federal Government’s plan to reach 15 million households, representing 75 million people, through its conditional cash transfer scheme.
Speaking on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Yilwatda explained that the initiative is part of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to mitigating the economic hardships faced by vulnerable Nigerians.
“The president was so specific,” Yilwatda noted.
“There are policies that he brought in to see if that can ease those challenges for people at the lower end of the pyramid. One of those policies is to reach out to 15 million beneficiaries under the conditional cash transfer, targeting households rather than individuals. Each household will receive ₦25,000 monthly, paid three times a year.”
Yilwatda further clarified that the 15 million households being targeted translate to 75 million Nigerians, assuming an average of five persons per household.
So far, the Federal Government has reached five million individuals but is facing challenges in fully sanitizing the social register, particularly with the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) policy mandating digital identities for transparency and traceability of payments.
“Currently, only 1.4 million people on the social register have digital identities. Many of those we are targeting are outside the formal banking system,” the minister disclosed.
Yilwatda emphasized that women are specifically targeted as household leaders under the program to ensure the funds are used effectively for the benefit of children and other vulnerable members of society.
The conditional cash transfer programme, which is administered under the National Social Investment Programme, had earlier been suspended by President Tinubu in January due to allegations of corruption. However, the scheme was reinstated in February, with plans to extend the initiative to an additional 12 million households.
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has assured Nigerians of a reduction in the pump price of petrol within the week, following adjustments to the ex-depot price by key players in the industry.
Last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Dangote Refinery announced a reduction in the ex-depot price of petrol to ₦899 per litre in Lagos. Despite this, the pump price at many filling stations across the country has remained unchanged.
However, PETROAN President, Billy Gilly-Harry, during a Monday appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, expressed optimism that the price change would soon reflect in retail outlets.
“But I believe from today when members start loading from both NNPC and Dangote at this new price reduction, it will reflect in the market,” he said.
Gilly-Harry lauded some members of PETROAN, particularly in Abuja, for proactively reducing their pump prices to below ₦1,000 even before the official announcement. He emphasized that while members strive to serve Nigerians by providing affordable fuel, they must maintain marginal profitability to sustain operations.
“We don’t encourage our members to try to sell products at a loss because our focus is to serve Nigerians. And the only way we can serve Nigerians is when we have the resources to do so. The resources can only be there if we’re making marginal profit enough to pay for the cost of money and ensure continuity in business,” he noted.
Addressing concerns over the delay in implementing the price reduction, Gilly-Harry explained that some retailers are still selling old stock purchased at higher prices.
“This reduction, if you apply it immediately, don’t forget that some of them bought at ₦970, paid transportation costs and logistics that have taken it quite high,” he said. “By the time it gets to their retail outlets, it’s quite much more than that. And so they must also sell at a profit – minimal marginal profit as provisioned by the PIA. So, that’s the reason.”
The PETROAN boss commended both the NNPCL and Dangote Refinery for their efforts in reducing the ex-depot price, which he described as a significant step toward easing the burden on Nigerians.
Nigerians are now hopeful that the price adjustment will translate into tangible relief at filling stations in the coming days.
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