IITA Bulletin 2323

The IITA

CGIAR

No. 2323

25–29 April 2016

Stakeholders meet in IITA to draw roadmap to achieve Zero Hunger in Nigeria Former Pres. Obasanjo convenes meeting

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he inaugural meeting of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Review was held in IITA Headquarters in Ibadan on 29 April.

Organized by the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) and IITA, this stakeholder meeting aimed to draw a roadmap to end hunger in Nigeria by 2030.

The meeting received support from the World Food Program (WFP), and was organized in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) that seek to end hunger by 2030.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the meeting convener, said the task of attaining the SDGs could not be left for the government alone, or for civil society or the private sector.

“It is going to take the collective effort of each and every citizen of this nation and our partners. It will require our collective change of mindset to at first identify the opportunities that abound,” he said.

The former president said that Nigeria’s continued importation of food was unacceptable and requested that efforts be made to address this.

IITA DG Nteranya Sanginga (left) and former Nigerian President Olasegun Obasanjo (wearing blue headdress) with some government officials and partners.

The WFP Representative, Stanlake Samkange, explained that the SDGs would be driven by the countries themselves, and the WFP/UN‘s role is to support countries in achieving these goals.

Dr Chiji Ojukwu, a Director with the African Development Bank (AfDB), expressed the commitment of the Bank to initiatives that would help Africa to feed itself. He said that the Bank was ready to work with Nigerian authorities in the Nigeria Zero Hunger “WFP’s role is to be a catalyst in a country– process, through the commodity valueowned process,” he added. chain to end hunger and poverty.

IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga, said that IITA would provide the necessary support for Nigeria to achieve its target within the framework of the Zero Hunger initiative.

About 50 key participants from government, ministries, development organizations, international entities, and the public and private sectors attended the strategic meeting.

IITA-Mozambique is home at last!

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t was a journey that started over six years ago. But finally, on 1 March, IITAMozambique – “Instituto Internacional de Agricultura Tropical, Estação de Nampula” – was finally home.

“Our new IITA-Mozambique ‘home’ is not complete yet, but it’s ours and it is functional. We’ll eventually get there,” said Steve Boahen, IITA Country Representative for Mozambique and Deputy Regional

Roadside signage pointing to the new IITA-Mozambique facility.

www.iita.org

Director for Southern Africa. “I would like to thank all those who helped in various ways to make this dream a reality – IITA Management, FMS, and most importantly staff of IITA-Mozambique,” he added.

interaction among staff and sharing of facilities and resources between the two Institutions. The office is also only 12 km from IITA’s 100-ha research field on the outskirts of Nampula.

The new IITA-Mozambique facility is about 15 km east of downtown Nampula City and 500 m away from our main research partner, the National Research Institute of Mozambique, Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM). The proximity to IIAM was a major criterion for selecting the location of the new office as this will further facilitate interaction and

The administration and research building has 11 offices, 3 laboratories, a 25-seat meeting room, a computer room with 10 workstations, and a small kitchen.

Two of the laboratories are for aflatoxin research (pathology) and agronomy and soil fertility, while the third is yet to be assigned. East of the main building is a structure that houses a 200-ton capacity

seed store, a seed processing room, a general storage room, and a working area supported by USAID. “We are on the second phase of a three-phase construction timetable to finally complete our home. Once this is complete, we’ll pop open the champagne and invite everyone to celebrate with us,” Boahen revealed.

IITA-Mozambique’s new official address is IITA-Mozambique, Av. FPLM 8 km, via Corrane, Muhala Expansão, Nampula, Mozambique.

Armyworm attacks maize in South-West Nigeria The first incidence of armyworm (Spodoptera praefica & Spodoptera exigua) attacks on maize plants in the rainy forest of South-West Nigeria was reported late January 2016 at IITA maize fields in Ibadan and Ikenne. This has led to a loss of more than 2 hectares of maize fields in Ibadan and Ikenne in February and March alone.

With time, the attack has spread to cowpea fields, and the geographical spread has also increased to northern parts of Oyo and Ogun States.

Recently, the attack has been reported at Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria.

This month, a student working on Left:Armyworm attack on a maize field. Right: Armyworms galore! cowpea at the West Africa Center for Crop Improvement (WACCI), University of Ghana, has also reported the attack There are 33 species of Spodoptera. has introduced a new product, Ampligo ingredient chloraniliprole on cowpea at the University farm at In each outbreak, at least three (active species have been observed.

This and lambda) from Syngenta that Legon, Accra. has implications on the chemical proved to be effective. However, the The larva of the insect, green and/ control of the insect. Maize scientists price of a small sachet of Ampligo, or black (see photo 1) is the most and support staff of IITA’s maize which sells at N550/sachet (almost destructive stage that attacks maize improvement program (MIP) have $3) in late February, now costs seedlings, defoliating the plant, leading been trying different available products N750 (almost $4), making it to premature death of the seedlings. In including Pyrinex (active ingredient exorbitantly expensive for smallholder severe attacks, it enters the funnel and chlorpyrifos), Best (active ingredient farmers. feeds on the growing parts of potential cypermethrin), and Karate (active tassel and ear affecting the emergence ingredient lambda cyhalothrin), to find There is fear that the insect attack of young leaves, tassel and silk (see the best formulation for controlling may overwhelm during the main rainy photo 2). This greatly affects pollen armyworm. A mixture of Pyrinex season. Currently, MIP staff—Silvestro production and emergence of silks with Best, however, has shown good Meseka, Tayo Ojo, and Ayanniyi Omolara—are conducting smallwhich limits fertilization and greatly results. scale experiments, trying different reduces the yield of the maize crop.

The destruction is more severe in maize Attempts to collect the larvae from formulations of Ampligo, Best, Karate, inbred lines due to the lack of vigor in the funnel of maize plants had and Pyrinex at different growth stages limited success. Recently, the institute of maize. inbred lines.

Got a story to share? Please email it with photos and captions every Wednesday to Katherine Lopez (k.lopez@cgiar.org), Jeffrey T. Oliver (j.oliver@cgiar.org), Catherine Njuguna (c.njuguna@cgiar.org), or Adaobi Umeokoro (a.umeokoro@cgiar.org).

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SARD-SC PSC meeting values project for its science and as a potential to be part of TAAT

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he SARD-SC Project Steering Committee members met in IITA, Ibadan, recently to review progress of the project implementation and advise on changes on strategic orientation.

In attendance at the meeting were the Project Coordinator, Commodity Specialists, and a representative of IFPRI. The 11-member PSC meeting—chaired

by Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA—took place 30-31 March.

While welcoming other members of the committee and SARD-SC project Commodity Specialists led by Project Coordinator Chrys Akem, Akinbamijo said he appreciated the SARD-SC project for its scientific thrust and potential to be a part of the “Feeding Africa” agenda, the new initiative of the African Development Bank (AfBD) to transform African agriculture. He also stated that with the project current expenditure at over 80%, the deliverables and the outcomes and impact should be made manifest to the farmers. Akinbamijo advised that the project should find a way of integrating the subregional organizational institutions and ensure proper documentation of the innovation platforms and their members.

“At this stage of the project, off–takers of the developed technologies, processed products, and varieties ought to have been identified as well as the beneficiaries,” he said. Akinbamijo reiterated the importance of the SARD-SC project to be part of the Abuja 2006 agenda.

Akem started with a summary of project achievements, which include among others: Effective engagement of stakeholders which led to the establishment of functional IPs for the four value chains, private sector operators including financial institutions, policy at

Project Steering Committee group photo.

local and national levels; Empowerment of youth and women skill development and entrepreneurship; Enhanced availability of productive and incomegenerating technologies, Capacity development of key stakeholders along different value chains, infrastructure and equipment development, among others.

In attendance at the meeting were Commodity Specialists Marie Yomeni (Cassava), Sam Ajala, (Maize), Sidi Sanyang (Rice), Solomon Assefa (Wheat).

Each of the SARD-SC project Commodity Specialists presented on the achievements for each commodity. Every presentation was critically analyzed by the PSC members, followed by valuable suggestions on how to ensure the project would have more impact on target beneficiaries. Tanguy Bernard of IFPRI also made a presentation on policy /market updates.

For good documentation of the achievements, the committee advised the need to quantify each achievement.

“Linkage with CORAF must be demonstrated. There is need to tap into the CORAF network to broaden the project outcomes. One way to push the linkage will be to get the list of all beneficiaries fit into the SRO data template. There is need for a two-day innovation fair that will bring together SROs, banks, the private sector, government as well as policymakers to demonstrate what has been achieved by the project. This will enable the SROs to buy into what has been achieved in their respective countries,” Akinbamijo advised.

Deputy Director General Kenton Dashiell (Partnerships and Capacity Development), thanked the chairman for his advice to improve the project implementation. He encouraged all the participants to continue putting more effort into their work “untill we see this project yielding more projects.” The next meeting will be hosted by ICARDA in November 2016.

Announcements • East Africa Banana Breeding Project Annual Meeting, Nelson Mandela-African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania, 1-5 May. • IITA Board Meeting, IITA, Kalambo, Bukavu, DR Congo, 12-14 May. • 7th African Soil Science Society ASSS conference, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 29 May - 1 June.

• 7th Africa Agricultural Science Week and FARA General Assembly, Kigali, Rwanda, 12-17 June. More information available at http://www.faraafrica.org/aasw7/.

• 3rd All Africa Horticultural Congress, Theme: “Horticultural for Improved Livelihoods”, Conference Center, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria, 7-12 August.

• 7th International Nitrogen Initiative Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 4–8 December.

More details on the conference are available here.

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IITA Forest Unit plants first tree in new Tree Heritage Park

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or the past year the Forest Unit has been restoring the Arboretum in the IITA-Ibadan campus as a Tree Heritage Park for the conservation of rare and endangered Nigerian trees. Massive amounts of exotic trees, “bush”, and weeds have been cleared from the original plots. On 19 April, a tree planting event was held to mark the end of clearing operations and the start of planting indigenous trees, which are now threatened with extinction.

An Ijebu mahogany, Entandrophragma angolense, was planted by Dr David Ladipo, who set up IITA’s arboreta in Ibadan, Onne, and Mbalmayo (Cameroon) in the 1990s. Mahoganies are one of the most highly valued timber trees; they are slow growing, taking over 35 years to flower for the first time, and mature specimens are now extremely rare. After planting the tree, Ladipo spoke of the crisis facing Nigerian trees and forests which are overexploited and fast disappearing.

The event was attended by Deputy Director Kenton Dashiell, Partnerships and Capacity Development, who congratulated Forest Unit staff on this important work. Before closing the ceremony, Ladipo presented Deni Bown, Head of the Forest Unit, with

three 2-m cuttings of African myrrh, Commiphora kerstingii, as an addition to the collection of rare trees.

From 1990 to 2005 Nigeria lost 35.7% of its forests, giving it the reputation of having the highest rate of deforestation in the world. Such rapid deforestation resulted in an average temperature rise of 1.1% and decrease in annual rainfall of 81 mm. Forest cover is now down to 4% yet there are few initiatives on reforestation or protection of forests at either state or federal level.

In addition to conservation of tree genetic resources, the Tree Heritage Park in IITA-Ibadan will raise awareness that native trees are better adapted to local soils and climate, support wider biodiversity, and provide a far greater range of raw materials than exotics.

It also offers seeds and young trees, and training and advisory services for reforestation and restoration of degraded landscapes.

The Tree Heritage Park project is funded by the AP Leventis Foundation.

It is supplemented by a project to prioritize and protect Nigeria’s most threatened trees, which receives a grant from the Mohammed bin Zayed Species Conservation Foundation. The

David Ladipo planting mahogany in arboretum with Deni Bown and Kenton Dashiell.

lead partner for this smaller project is Botanic Gardens Conservation International, secretariat for the IUCN/ Species Survival Commission Global Tree Specialist Group. As an “incountry” partner, IITA, through the Forest Unit, has exceptional expertise in propagating indigenous trees.

Detailed records for over 85 species will form the basis for a project manual of West African tree propagation.

Abuja Youth Agripreneurs conduct five-day training

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he IITA Youth Agripreneurs in Abuja have conducted a five-day step down training in IITA Abuja Station. The training was organized by the Agripreneurs themselves for themselves—the few Agripreneurs who attended the just-

concluded Ekimiks 2016 training program titled “Developing Strategic Skills for Agribusiness” at IITA headquarters in Ibadan are cascading it down to the majority of those who could not attend.

IITA Youth Agripreneurs in Abuja conduct training on agribusiness for fellow Agripreneurs.

IITA Bulletin 2323

The training aimed at improving the capacity of the Agripreneurs in critical areas of their agricultural activities such as, effective planning for sustainable farming business, fundamentals of business accounting, business performance ratios, winning business plans for agribusiness, essential business skills in farm management, managing personpower for high productivity, achieving operational excellence, writing, public speaking and presentation skills, effective sales and marketing solutions, risk management, and business continuity planning, among others.

Declaring the training open, the Abuja Head of Station, Gbassey Tarawali thanked those who organized the training, and encouraged those who didn’t go to Ibadan to take advantage of the training to enrich their knowledge in preparation for the planting season. He pledged his full support and that of other staff in making the training a success. page 4