countries: Nigeria

Ibadan, Nigeria – As the cropping season draws near, resource-poor farmers in northern Nigeria are dem anding more improved seed varieties from scientists working on the Sudan Savannah task force project.

The Sudan Savannah task force comprise a team of researchers working on the Kano-Katsina-Maradi (KKM) Pilot initiative, which aims to carry out integrated agricultural research for development to address the several constraints facing farmers in that region.

The leader of the Aminchi multipurpose group at Tabbani village, Musawa Local Government Area (LGA), Katsina State, Hajiya Murja Abass, made the dem and on behalf of the farmers during the 2009 stakeholders’ mobilization exercise. The occasion also witnessed the launching of innovation platforms in Katsina state in the presence of the Chairman of Safana LGA, Alhaji Abdulkadir A. Zakka, and the Chairman of Musawa LGA, Dr. Aliyu Musawa.

Abass, a seed producer in the 2008 cropping exercise, pleaded that more seeds should be provided by the task force to meet farmers’ dem ands.

“Farmers love the seeds you gave us because of the good results they got last year. The improved seeds yielded three times more when compared with local varieties using the same hectare of l and and the same quantity of seeds,” she said.

Nigeria’s north is home to grains—such as cowpea, soybeans, groundnut, sorghum, and maize among others—but constraints such as lack of improved seed varieties, declining soil fertility and poor marketing have limited grain production.

The KKM Pilot initiative, which is funded by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, (FARA), aims to tackle these limitations with the recent inauguration of innovation platforms to solve problems in a holistic manner.

Partners in the project include the Katsina State ADP, Kano State ADP, Institute of Agricultural Research, Zaria; National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services, National Animal Production Research Institute, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IRNS, two LGAs, and input and output dealers.

The Sudan Savannah task force leader, Dr. Alpha Y. Kamara, said the project would help in finding solutions to the numerous constraints faced by the farmers.

“We would also want the local government authorities to fully support the innovation platforms in implementing the project activities,” said Kamara, an IITA agronomist.

He also urged farmers to adopt modern farming methods as a way out of poverty and guaranteeing food security.

Dr. Musawa said his administration would support the project in all possible ways to ensure improvement in the livelihoods of farmers.

He appealed to the task force to exp and the program to other communities beyond the five communities originally selected in each LGA.

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For more information, please contact:

Alpha Yaya Kamara, a.kamara@cgiar.org
Savannah Systems Agronomist

Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Manager

Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer

IITA – Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria

URL: http://www.iita.org/

About IITA
Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people’s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization since 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.

A sorghum field severely infested with Striga.
A sorghum field severely infested with Striga. Witchweed causes annual losses of US$ 7 billion in cereal production in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Download High-Res

IITA and its partners have found a way to control the scourge of witchweed (Striga hermonthica) in Sub-Saharan Africa through a biocontrol agent. Striga infests some 50 million hectares of cereal crops, specifically maize, sorghum and millet, causing farmers an estimated US$ 7 billion in annual losses and affecting over 300 million people in the region.

A farmer angrily showing a Striga plant that he pulled from his field.
A farmer angrily showing a Striga plant that he pulled from his field. Farmers now have a natural and cost-effective way to fight back the scourge of witchweed.
Download High-Res

 

Developed by a team led by IITA plant pathologist Dr. Fen Beed with partners from the University of McGill (Canada) and University of Hohenheim (Germany), the technology utilizes certain strains of Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum) to fight the parasitic weed. The technology is cheap, environment-friendly and safe as the fungus specifically targets witchweed.

The fungal strains tested originated from Ghana, Mali and Nigeria but, like witchweed, they are common throughout semi-arid Africa. The fungus can be easily grown in sterile water containing sorghum waste. The hard part was finding a way to coat seeds with it.

 

Through experimentation, the team found that spores of the fungus can be mixed with liquefied Arabic gum – an organic adhesive extracted from trees and commonly found in many SSA countries – without harming the fungus. The mixture is coated onto the seeds, dried then planted. The fungus remains viable for long periods, making the seeds amenable to storage. The fungus could also be directly dispersed into soil holes where the seeds are to be planted. The treated seeds produce crops that are free of the parasitic weed.

 

Ibadan, Nigeria – IITA researchers and partners have developed a safe and natural method that could drastically cut aflatoxin contamination in African food crops by as much as 99 per cent.

Scientists of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Kenya, the United States Department for Agriculture (USDA) and IITA have collaboratively demonstrated the ability of a natural fungi found in Nigeria to significantly reduce concentrations of aflatoxins in maize. In the long-term, this research would lead to the improvement of the health of vulnerable groups, especially women and children, and help reduce related global trade losses estimated at US$ 1.2 billion. African economies lose about US$ 450 million annually to aflatoxin contamination.

On-station field trials of the biocontrol method in Zaria, Ikenne, Mokwa and Ibadan in Nigeria showed 50 to 99 per cent reductions in aflatoxin contamination in maize. Under the biocontrol method, native strains of Aspergillus flavus that do not produce aflatoxins (called atoxigenic strains) can be applied in order to alter the fungal community on crops and throughout an area so that maize becomes less contaminated with aflatoxins. When properly applied, these native atoxigenic strains competitively exclude aflatoxin producers.

This competitive exclusion principle of biological control will be used as a new type of aflatoxin intervention strategy to mitigate the negative effect of aflatoxins on human health and trade in Kenya and Nigeria.

“Aflatoxins are silent killers. They undermine human health and stunt the growth of children but is not often visible on maize when purchased.” says Dr Ranajit B andyopadhyay, IITA Pathologist, during an AATF-USDA-IITA meeting last week which examined the prospects of a biological method to drastically reduce aflatoxin contamination in food crops. They are also non-tariff barriers to international trade since agricultural products that have more than the permissible levels of contamination are rejected in the global market.

Aflatoxins are chemical poisons produced mainly by the fungus Aspergillus flavus in maize, groundnuts, cassava, and yam chips. These toxins are also potent causes of cancer and suppress the immune system causing humans and animals to be more susceptible to diseases.

Dr Peter Cotty of the Agricultural Research Service, USDA, who collaborated with IITA on the project, says natural populations of Aspergillus flavus consist of toxigenic strains that produce copious amounts of aflatoxin and atoxigenic strains that lack this capacity. He explains that competitive exclusion works by applying selected native atoxigenic strains to out-compete and exclude aflatoxin-producers during colonization of grains, thereby reducing levels of aflatoxin contamination. There are several atoxigenic strains native to Nigeria that are useful for reducing aflatoxins.

B andyopadhyay says atoxigenic strains can be directed at reducing aflatoxin contamination in several crops throughout an area simultaneously. “Manipulation of the composition of fungal communities (i.e., replacing high aflatoxin-producers with their cousins that do not produce aflatoxins) so that high aflatoxin-producers are less common, is a viable approach for reducing aflatoxin contamination throughout all crops grown in a target area,” he says.

He reveals that atoxigenic strains for use in biocontrol have been identified for use in Kenya and Nigeria by USDA and IITA. Farmers, policy makers, the food and feed industry and various NGOs have expressed their desire and support to convert this technology into a readily-available product in Nigeria and other countries in Africa where the technology would be applied for the first time.

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For more information, please contact:

Dr Ranajit B andyopadhyay, r.b andyopadhyay@cgiar.org
Pathologist
IITA-Nigeria

Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (International)

Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (West Africa)

Communication Office
IITA – Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria

IITA – Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria

Also see:

Opportunities and Threats Program
Diffusion of Cost-Effective Technologies for the Control of Mycotoxin Contamination

About IITA
Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people’s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization since 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.

On 15 April 2009, a newspaper quoted an organization that warns about hazards of IITA improving cassava in Nigeria. The carelessness of their message amounts to a disservice to the Nigerian public.

Consume and enjoy, with great peace of mind, all crops that IITA works on, cassava, cowpea, bananas, plantain, yams, and maize. Our improved varieties provide more protein and vitamins, both necessary to good nutrition. The younger ones in your family will benefit greatly from consuming a mix of such healthy foods. These proteins and vitamins are found naturally in the plant. We search the world – Africa, Americas, Asia – for different varieties to improve the ones that your family consumes.

The damage of poor nutrition in children is often irreversible. To the extent you can nourish the younger generation better; the life ahead of them will be improved.

The newspaper message mentioned above which tried to scare Nigerians also left out the fact that Nigeria has extensive controls on the release of food plants and organizations such as NAFDAC, are vigilant in checking for food contaminants.

Since its creation, over 40 years ago, IITA has never released anything that was harmful to anyone.

Hartmann

Director General, IITA

Ibadan, Nigeria – Research work by IITA and partners on the banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease has been featured in the latest, May 2009 (Volume No. 93), issue of Plant Disease, an international peer-reviewed journal of Applied Plant Pathology produced by the American Phytopathological Society (APS).

Entitled “Xanthomonas Wilt: A threat to banana production in East and Central Africa”, the colorfully-illustrated and image-filled article comprehensively describes the current state of BXW research and methods of control, focusing on the practical aspects of its diagnosis and treatment. Specifically, the feature covered the disease’s economic and social impact, causal organism, symptoms, diagnosis, epidemiology, susceptibility of commonly-grown cultivars, and control and management strategies.

The article was collaboratively written by Leena Tripathi, Maina Mwangi, Steffen Abele and Ranajit B andyopadhyay of IITA, and Valentine Aritua and Wilberforce Kateera Tushemereirwe of the National Agricultural Research Laboratories, Kaw anda, Kampala, Ug anda. The online and downloadable (PDF) version of the feature could be accessed from the Plant Disease Journal section of the APS website.

Tripathi, corresponding author, says that “the article is an important step in promoting collaborative work on BXW – a crop disease that is threatening the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in the Great Lakes region of East and Central Africa. The feature presents detailed review of what we and our partners have done so far in describing the disease and developing control strategies against it. The article raises awareness about the disease with the hope of getting more support for anti-BXW work and, in the long-run, help mitigate its impact on affected farmers and their households”.

Plant Disease is the leading international journal for rapid reporting of research on new diseases, epidemics, and methods of disease control. It covers basic and applied research, which focuses on practical aspects of disease diagnosis and treatment. Feature articles summarize current information on specific diseases. It is ranked in the top 10 journals for impact on research and teaching efforts in the crop sciences according to Literature of Crop Science, a project published by Cornell University press. Plant Disease is published by APS, an international scientific organization that promotes the study of plant diseases and their control through publications, meetings, symposia, workshops, and its network APSnet.

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For more information, please contact:

Dr Leena Tripathi, l.tripathi@cgiar.org
Biotechnologist
IITA-Ug anda

Dr Steffen Abele, s.abele@cgiar.org
Director
IITA-Tanzania

Dr Ranajit B andyopadhyay, r.b andyopadhyay@cgiar.org
Plant Pathologist
IITA-Nigeria

Jeffrey T Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (International)
Communication Office
IITA-Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria

Related site:

Banana and Plantain Systems program overview

Other IITA projects on banana and plantain:

Bacterial Wilt Resistance Programme in East African highl and Bananas (Phase II)
Banana tissue culture
Improving Rural Livelihood in Southern Africa – CGIAR Consortium
IPM CRSP – The International Plant Diagnostic Network (IPDN)
Programme de relance de la recherche agricole et forestiere en RDC

About IITA
Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people’s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization established in1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.

Ibadan, Nigeria – Farmers cultivating maize are making profits despite droughts experienced in northern Nigeria, thanks to tolerant maize developed and disseminated by IITA, other international agricultural research centers and national partners.

“The drought-tolerant maize varieties have mitigated the effects of drought on maize production and farmers are having better incomes,” says Mr. Olumide Ibikunle, Research and Development Manager, Premier Seeds. “The seed industry is also better off because dem and for maize has actually increased,” he added during an interview at the sidelines of the regional planning meeting of the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) Project being at IITA’s Headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Over the years IITA, CIMMYT and partners have released several drought-tolerant maize varieties including Samaz 16, ZM309 and ZM523, among others, in the sub-Saharan African region to cushion the effects of drought on the crop and, ultimately, on farmers and their households.

“Investment in drought-tolerant maize is a very good thing especially for Africa as drought remains one of the major limiting factors to profitable maize production in the continent,” Ibikunle adds.

“Northern Nigeria, where maize production dominates, is prone to drought,” stresses Stella Thomas, Managing Director of Kano-based Seed Project Company Limited. “To keep production profitable to resource-poor farmers, research on drought-tolerant maize is vital,” she emphasizes. Researchers and other stakeholders in the maize industry meeting in Ibadan say developing such varieties will boost maize production, enhancing not only incomes but more importantly food security.

Dr Abebe Menkir, IITA Maize Breeder, says the DTMA project will reduce the vulnerability of maize farmers to drought. “Rainfall has a perfect correlation with maize production. Once there is an absence of rainfall at the flowering stage, yield is affected. The solution is getting varieties that are tolerant to lack of rainfall,” Dr.Wilfred Mwangi, DTMA Project Leader and CIMMYT scientist, adds.

He also said that the varieties to be further developed under the project will create safety nets for farmers especially in times of inadequate rainfall. “What this means is that if there is no rainfall, the farmer should have some maize to harvest, and if there is rainfall let him harvest bountifully. So, it is a win-win situation.”

Mwangi says the project builds upon earlier research by IITA, CIMMYT and national partners on drought-tolerant maize. He likewise commended Nigeria’s seed companies for the interest shown in maize production, stressing that the success of the project depended on the level of private sector involvement. “This is one effective way through which the improved varieties will reach the farmers,” he concludes.

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For more information, please contact:

Dr Abebe Menkir, a.menkir@cgiar.org
Maize Breeder
IITA-Nigeria

Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (International)

Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (West Africa)

IITA – Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria

Related site:
Cereals and Legumes Systems overview

Other IITA projects on maize:
Doubling maize production in Nigeria in two years
IR Maize in Western Kenya
Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in Borno State (PROSAB)

About IITA
Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people’s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization established in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.

imageThe IITA Mycotoxin Group announces the release of the “Annotated Bibliography of IITA Publications on Mycotoxins”, a compilation of scientific paper abstracts that have been authored, co-authored and/or edited by the group from 1995 to the present, in partnership with advanced research institutes in the US, Europe and many national programs in Africa. Through the publication, IITA aims to share the breadth of its research-for-development work on mycotoxins.

 

The annotated bibliography is divided into seven sections, covering the major areas of: (1) health; (2) host plant resistance; (3) biocontrol/ecology; (4) survey; (5) management; (6) insect-fungus-toxin interactions; and (7) awareness. It will be updated annually as more research on mycotoxins by IITA is completed. The publication was compiled by Ranajit B andyopadhyay, Kerstin Hell, Abebe Menkir and Lava Kumar and published on 20 March 2009.

According to Paula Bramel, IITA DDG R4D, the IITA Mycotoxin Group and its global and African partners are devoted to developing viable options to reduce mycotoxin contamination in staple crops and, subsequently, its impact on people’s health and the economy. Efforts of this research group have contributed to the generation of valuable knowledge and development of products in this area, which are captured in this annotated bibliography.

Click on the book cover thumbnail above or click here to download the PDF of the full version of the publication. Or if you want to receive a copy, contact the IITA Library (iita-library@cgiar.org), R. B andyopadhyay (r.b andyopadhyay@cgiar.org) or K. Hell (k.hell@cgiar.org).

Ibadan, Nigeria – Scientists at IITA are working on developing new cassava-based recipes that will be used in improving the nutrition and health of vulnerable groups, specifically mothers, children below 5, and pregnant women, as part a $5.3 million United States Agency for International Development project on ‘Unleashing the power of cassava in Africa’ (UPoCA). Besides the cassava-based recipes, which will be first introduced in Sierra Leone, the project will also introduce and test cassava-based complementary food for acceptability. Aside from the country, the two-year project also covers DR Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.

Speaking during a field training of trainers in Sierra Leone on Global Positioning System (GPS) as a new farm measurement tool, UPoCA Project Manager, Dr. Braima James, said the project would deploy proven technologies to maximize production, commercialization, value addition and utilization of cassava. The training is part of UPoCA’s activities aimed at generating important information to be used in developing farm plans for the optimal production of cassava in the participating countries. GPS is a worldwide satellite-based system used in measuring three dimensional position of any location on earth.

“The project aims to ensure adequate supply of cassava and cassava food products at economically-affordable prices in the participating countries by making readily available improved cassava varieties, production processes and farm gate processing. Information, education and communication strategies will help to boost previously piloted research-for-development gains in the cassava sub-sector,” James who is also an IITA Scientist said. He added that knowing the locations of cassava processing sites would guide UPoCA to select and train clusters of farmers around those sites in the project’s value chain.

IITA Crop Utilization Specialist, Dr. Busie Maziya-Dixon, said that the Institute had already developed several value-added food products from cassava. “Cassava is no longer seen as a ‘poor man’s crop’ but an industrial crop that is not just providing food for resource-poor farmers but also money in their pockets,” she said.

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For more information, please contact:

Braima James, b.james@cgiar.org
UPoCA Project Coordinator/ Entomologist
IITA-Benin

Busie Maziya-Dixon, B.Maziya-Dixon@cgiar.org
Crop Utilization Specialist

Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Manager

Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer

IITA – Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria
URL: www.iita.org

About IITA
Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people’s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization established in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.

Resource-poor cowpea farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have seen their profits jump by 55 per cent thanks to improved dual-purpose cowpea varieties developed and introduced by IITA and its national partners in Nigeria. Paul Amaza, IITA Agricultural Economist, says that farmers who use traditional varieties earn about US$ 251 per hectare, while those who are growing the improved cowpea are getting US$390, or US$139 more, per hectare with proper crop management.

The improved varieties — IT89KD-288, IT89KD-391, IT97K-499-35, and IT93K-452-1 — produce high-quality grains for use as food and fodder and are also resistant to Striga, a parasitic weed that reduces yields of susceptible local cowpeas by as much as 80 per cent.

Alpha Yaya Kamara, IITA’s Savannah Systems Agronomist, says over 100,000 farmers in Borno and Kano states in northern Nigeria and in the Niger Republic are currently using the improved varieties, where their adoption rate is conservatively estimated at 65 per cent. He explains that farmers in the savannah region view cowpea as both food and cash crop. Therefore, when the varieties were introduced, farmers took to them quickly since they serve both ends well. “Those who cultivate it are basically better off than those who do not”, Kamara adds.

The improved cowpea varieties were developed and deployed in partnership with the Borno State Agricultural Development Project, Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, Kaduna State Agricultural Development Project, the Institute of Agricultural Research – Zaria and the University of Maiduguri. Other local development partners are also promoting the improved varieties by organizing farmers’ field days, exchange visits, training and farmer-to-farmer diffusion.

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is a grain legume grown mainly in the savanna regions of the tropics and subtropics in Africa, Asia, and South America. Its grain contains about 25 per cent protein, making it extremely valuable to those who cannot afford animal-derived protein foods such as meat and fish. It is tolerant to drought, fixes atmospheric nitrogen and improves poor soils.

According to the FAO, about 7.56 million tons of cowpea are produced worldwide annually, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 70% or about 5.3 million tons.

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For more information, please contact:

Dr Paul Amaza, p.amaza@cgiar.org
Agricultural Economist

Dr Alpha Yaya Kamara, a.kamara@cgiar.org
Savannah Systems Agronomist

Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (International)

Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (West Africa)

IITA – Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria

See also:
Cowpea overview
Cereals and legumes systems

Other IITA cereals and legumes projects:
Development and Promotion of Alectra Resistant Cowpea cultivars
Improving tropical legume productivity for marginal environments in sub-Saharan Africa
Tropical Legume II

Related websites:
Cowpea in Wikipedia
Cowpea in Alternative Field Crops Manual, Purdue University

About IITA
Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people’s lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization established in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.