The unveiling of the scientific results is part of the plans for the meeting taking place in Ibadan for BASICS, 14 – 16 March, and IITA-CWMP, 19-20 March.

The results from the two projects will be presented to policymakers, researchers and other partners for possible scaling out to other states in Nigeria. Already 12 commissioners of agriculture in Nigeria have confirmed participation to the meeting. The invited commissioners are drawn from the major cassava producing regions of Nigeria.

“What we are going to share is more or less game changers for cassava production,” the Project Leader, IITA-CWMP, Dr Alfred Dixon said.

Inaugurated in 2014, the IITA-CWMP is a 5-year project with the key objective of addressing weed constraints in cassava farming systems, thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for funding support.

In the last 4 years, the project has developed weed control options drawing from the use of best bet agronomic practices, use of motorized weeders, and the use of safe and environmentally friendly herbicides.

Dixon said the meeting holding 19-20 March will give details of what has been achieved in the last 4 years.

Like IITA-CWMP, the BASICS project will also be sharing findings and the progress made from its work on cassava seed systems in Nigeria. BASICS’ meeting will be on 14-16 March with a clear focus on seeds systems.

The BASICS project will share with researchers and policymakers the latest findings from cassava seeds system, including activities from the semi-autotrophic hydroponics and the village seed entrepreneur model of seed multiplication and multiplication.

Generally, seeds are the bedrock for the quest to increase agricultural productivity. In cassava, the seed system is weak, yet with great potential. The combination of improved seeds and weed management can bring benefits to farmers by raising productivity while at the same time reducing the drudgery of hoe weeding.

Grown by more than 4 million people, cassava is a major source of livelihood and food security to millions of people in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the productivity of cassava has been stymied over the years by poor weed control, a weak or nonexistent seed system, and poor understanding of the agronomy of the crop.

Hemant Nitturkar, Project Director of BASICS, noted that the knowledge generated by the IITA-CWMP and BASICS would redefine the narrative of cassava in Africa by impacting positively on yields at farm level.

IITA-CWMP is putting smiles on our faces, and making life easier for us, farmers say

The post IITA-CWMP, BASICS to share ‘game changers’ in cassava farming systems to policymakers first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post IITA-CWMP, BASICS to share ‘game changers’ in cassava farming systems to policymakers appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post IITA-CWMP is putting smiles on our faces, and making life easier for us, farmers say first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post IITA-CWMP is putting smiles on our faces, and making life easier for us, farmers say appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

The challenge of weeds on Nigeria’s agricultural productivity, as gathered was brought to the fore at the meeting of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Forum (NZHF) held in Ebonyi State, Southeast Nigeria.

According to the Director General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga, cassava featuring as one of the top priority crops in most states of Nigeria, the IITA-CWMP would provide innovations to help the government to tackle the weed menace.

“We want to see increases in yield in Nigeria, and our innovation in cassava weed management will help states with cassava as a priority crop to tackle weeds—a major constraint to cassava transformation,” he said.

Last year, Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, in listing the challenges facing agricultural development, noted that weeds were the most notorious constraint limiting agriculture development. Worse still, the adulteration of herbicides is not helping matters and is undermining efforts by resource-poor farmers to raise their productivity.

Expressing concerns over the issue, stakeholders unanimously issued a communique calling on the Federal Government to step up the regulation on use and distribution of herbicides and input market.

They worried that the uncontrolled influx of adulterated herbicides in the Nigerian market was jeopardizing the gains made so far in transforming agriculture and efforts to attain zero hunger.

The goal to attain zero hunger is a commitment Nigeria has made since the declaration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015.

Taking the SDGs forward, Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has initiated and is leading efforts to help the country to achieve SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) with the creation of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Forum initiative.

The former president, with the support of IITA, the World Food Program (WFP), and the African Development Bank (AfDB), has created a forum comprising six pilot states that are desiring to hit the target of zero hunger by 2025.

The Deputy Director General, Partnership for Delivery, Dr Kenton Dashiell, said IITA’s participation in NHZF would help Nigeria to tap the institute’s capacity in science and innovation to address hunger in the country.

Dr Alfred Dixon, Project Leader, IITA-CWMP noted that once the problem of weeds is addressed, farmers would have a boom in harvest.

The meeting in Ebonyi, which attracted about 500 persons from both the public and private sectors, was the second after the initial one in Benue state.

The post Zero Hunger: IITA to offer solution to weed menace first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Zero Hunger: IITA to offer solution to weed menace appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

The IITA Chief, Dr. Dashiell in a 30-minute presentation to more than 300 researchers including members of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), which focused on IITA’s Partnership for Delivery strategy, stressed IITA’s renewed commitment to impact on farm levels and how the Institute is responding to Africa’s agricultural realities in the context of food security and wealth creation.

He, also noted that IITA’s scaling out approaches were based on excellent research at IITA, highlighting the role of partners as a critical component to the research and delivery continuum.

Other projects which featured in the presentation were the Ag Results project on the control of aflatoxins, N2Africa, the IITA Business Incubation Platform, and the IITA Youth Agri-Business program.

The IITA Cassava Weed Management Project, which began in 2014, has five components—three focusing on research and two on delivery and effective project management.

According to Dr. Alfred Dixon, Project Leader, Cassava Weed Management Project, “all these components are integrated in a research-for-development model”.

Three and a half years down the line, the project has developed an integrated weed control package that is now being disseminated to farmers at scale using diverse platforms such as traditional and social media, on-farm demonstration, extension agents, and spray service providers.

The integrated weed management technology is today showing farmers the best approaches to control weeds in cassava farming systems, making farming cassava less burdensome, and increasing yields.

The project intends to reach at least 125,000 farmers in its lifecycle of 5 years.

Dr Dashiell who oversees a portfolio of projects said the vision of the Partnerships for Delivery Directorate was to ensure that the excellent research being generated is delivered at scale, support policy dialogues, and promote youth and private sector entrepreneurship.

The post IITA Chief Commends Cassava Weed Management Project for research and delivery first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post IITA Chief Commends Cassava Weed Management Project for research and delivery appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.

The demos were conducted in 2016 in the three senatorial districts of Ogun states using an integrated weed control package developed by the IITA-CWMP.

Dr Patience Olorunmaiye, a scientist at the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), while presenting the results at the Joint Quarterly Review Meeting of the project in Abeokuta, informed that the yield from the demonstration plots were impressive and a proof of concept that if farmers adopted improved weed management practices, they would be better off.

The highest yield from the demonstration farms was 32 tons/ha with 96 percent of the demonstration farms recording more than 20 tons/ha.

Also, the Principal Investigator of the IITA-CWMP, Prof. Friday Ekeleme said the results clearly show that weeds were a major factor limiting the potential of cassava in Africa.

In the last four years, the IITA-CWMP with funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made a bold decision to unravel the puzzle of weeds menace in cassava.

Working with a coalition of partners including the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, University of Agriculture Makurdi, the National Root Crops Research Institute, and extension partners; the team set up trials in the three agroecological zones of the country including the humid forest, derived savannah and the southern guinea savannah.

These trials led to the selection of safe and environmentally friendly herbicides with other agronomic practices that formed the package that was used in setting up the demos in Ogun and other states of Nigeria (Abia, Benue, and Oyo). Results from the other states are also being compiled for analysis.

Prof. Ekeleme further noted that the results from Ogun state was a thing of joy not only to the project team but also to the country at large.

He said the results indicated that the project was achieving one of its major objectives, which is to double the national average yield of cassava, generate wealth, and reduce the burden of weeding in cassava farming systems.

Grown by over 4.5 million people in Nigeria, cassava is a major staple contributing to food security and wealth of the nation. Although Nigeria is a major producer of the root crop accounting for over 54 million tons per annum, average yield per ha is low with weeds being fingered as a major block.

Researchers say farmers cannot grow cassava more than they can weed—a situation that limits farm size and subject farmers to perpetual penury.

Dr Alfred Dixon, a director with IITA and Project Leader for IITA-CWMP said the project would help Nigeria change the narrative of cassava production.

He called on the government of Nigeria to partner IITA in scaling up the findings of the project to millions of cassava farmers for national development and poverty reduction.

The Project Leader commended the Justice Development and Peace Movement (JDPM) in Oyo, Justice Development and Peace Movement (JDPM) in Ogun, Abia State Agricultural Development Program, Benue Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (BNARDA), Ogun State Agricultural Development Program (OGADEP), and Oyo State Agricultural Development Program (OYSADEP) for their support in setting up the demonstrations across the states.

The post Nigeria : Improved weed control help farmers to record 27tons/ha first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

The post Nigeria : Improved weed control help farmers to record 27tons/ha appeared first on MegaIcon Magazine.