CGIAR
No. 2335
The IITA
18 –22 July 2016
CGIAR, World Bank explore opportunities for better collaboration and to support Tanzania’s Agricultural Sector Development Agenda
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epresentatives of CGIAR Centers and Research Programs working in Tanzania recently met a delegation from the World Bank to talk about how the two entities could better work together in the country, specifically to support its national Agricultural Sector Development Agenda. The meeting, which was organized and hosted by IITA at its Eastern Africa hub offices in Dar es Salaam, provided an opportunity for the World Bank to better understand the activities of the CGIAR Bank’s Sara Simons giving an overview of funding opportunities in Tanzania as IITA’s centers in Tanzania, and on the other hand World Freddy Baijukya and Victor Manyong listen intently. for the CGIAR to know World Bank funding opportunities in the country to support “Although Tanzania’s economy is on the participants on the development between agriculture in Tanzania . upswing, it is still dependent on agriculture, the CGIAR and World Bank at higher levels. with most of the people employed in the He mentioned that CGIAR centers could Tanzania is currently developing Phase sector living in rural – and generally poor support the World Bank in peer reviewing of 2 of its Agricultural Sector Development – areas. Therefore, the CGIAR Centers can projects, providing technical backstopping Program (ASDPII) which outlines the really make a positive impact on reducing to the governments as co-designers and country’s priority areas of interventions. The poverty through agricultural development,” executors of funded projects, strengthening meeting was therefore timely to deliberate said Victor Manyong, IITA Director for analytical work, Climate Smart Agriculture, how CGIAR could contribute to the the Eastern African Regional Hub, in his and capacity building. execution of the ASDPII and this will further welcome remarks. “The World Bank is very keen on the inform the planning for CRPII projects in the Regina Kapinga, IITA Head of advocacy and CGIAR integration exercise. There is a country. resource mobilization and the focal person lot of knowledge being generated by the for the CGIAR-Tanzania Site Integration centers and strengthening partnership process, briefed the team on the CGIAR and collaboration with national partners activities in Tanzania, highlighting progress will strengthen mechanisms to put this made since the national stakeholder knowledge into use,” Willem said. consultation meeting held in December 2016. She also shared plans and lessons Simons, on the other hand, briefed the learned from the CGIAR site integration work centers on the activities of the World Bank and encouraged joint proposal development in Tanzania, and the funding opportunities and resource mobilization among CGIAR that the CGIAR could tap into. reps wherever they are located. She said one of the priority areas for the
CGIAR and World Bank reps in a group photo at the IITA-EA hub offices.
“Local champions or ambassadors should World Bank in Tanzania was the Southern be identified at country level to help push the Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania CGIAR agenda in the countries,” she added. (SAGCOT), which was being funded to a tune of USD 70 million mostly for supporting private The team from World Bank consisted of sector partnership investment in agriculture Willem Janssen, Task Team Leader (Project through grants. Related to this, she urged Manager) for the World Bank’s support centers to identify mature technologies ready to the Tanzania ASDP2 based in DC, and for roll out through Private Sector Partnership Sara Simons the Bank’s Senior Agriculture and encourage their private sector partners Specialist in Tanzania. Willem briefed to apply for the SAGCOT funding.
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JIRCAS, IITA launch cowpea database
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he Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), in collaboration with IITA, has launched the EDITS-Cowpea database. This open-access database aims to generate fundamental scientific information to promote better utilization of cowpea genetic resources in breeding programs and crop utilization. Cowpea is vital to the livelihoods of millions of people in the semi-arid regions of West and Central Africa. It is considered to be the most important grain legume crop in sub-Saharan Africa. A protein-rich grain, it holds great potential as part of a nutritionally balanced diet, especially for people who cannot afford animal protein. The EDITS-Cowpea database was developed to promote innovation in cowpea development. This database is expected to stimulate the use of wide genetic diversity of the crop in breeding activities to generate new varieties that conform to consumer preferences and regional market needs. With the EDITS-Cowpea database, cowpea breeders and scientists will gain access to a total of 240 genotypes including germplasm, breeding lines, and local varieties; a summary consisting of the origin, trait list, and images of the selected genotype is made available for downloading and printing. The database is expected to strengthen the crop’s role in society and will enable cowpea breeders to identify genotypes with favorable target traits. The EDITS-Cowpea database was developed under the project “Evaluation
The EDIT-Cowpea database (pictured above) enables cowpea breeders to identify genotypes with favorable target traits.
and Utilization of Diverse Genetic Materials in Tropical Field Crops (EDITS)” – a collaborative research initiative of JIRCAS involving IITA and several Japanese research institutions. It aims to build up fundamental scientific information and develop evaluation tools for the better utilization of genetic resources. In West Africa, the project focuses on two traditional crops: cowpea and yam.
efficient evaluation techniques and a dataset of important traits of the germplasm to identify breeding targets to improve grain quality for future value addition of cowpea. The outputs from these collaborative efforts are expected to contribute to breeding programs of IITA and national research institutes.
IITA scientists involved in the project include Ousmane Boukar, cowpea Activities related to the development of breeder; Tahirou Abdoulaye, agricultural the EDITS-cowpea database started in economist; and Haruki Ishikawa, plant 2011, and were designed to develop physiologist.
IITA graduate researcher named Borlaug LEAP awardee
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demola Aina, a PhD student in the University of Ibadan and a graduate research fellow at the Genetic Resources Center (GRC), IITA has been awarded the prestigious Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (Borlaug LEAP). The Borlaug LEAP awards fellowships to outstanding graduate students who show great promise as leaders in the field of agriculture and related disciplines.
As part of the fellowship, Ademola will be working with his US mentor Daniel Potter in his lab at the University of California, Davis while also continuing his work with Michael Abberton, his CGIAR mentor and Head of the GRC. Ademola’s work will focus on nodulation and the use of Next-generation sequencing on African yam bean accessions. He will also be using high-tech software programs in the analysis of the molecular data generated from this research.
Ademola Aina.
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FAST-TRACKing cost-effective, sustainable, and gender-balanced technology dissemination
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ne of the challenges facing researchers and research institutions is how to rapidly disseminate new technologies to intended beneficiaries such as farmers. One project, “Fast-tracking the access to improved and popular varieties of root crops by smallholder farmers: a case of sweet potato” is exploring a new approach by working through primary school students.
The preliminary results show that the school-based dissemination approach could be cost effective for reaching many households in a short time, added Kpaka. He was giving a seminar on “Measuring the cost effectiveness of the technologies’ dissemination approach for root banana and tuber: the case study of sweet potato in Uganda and Tanzania”.
According to Musa Kpaka, the project’s Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, in the school-based approach the school children are the primary recipients of the technologies. They receive sweet potato technologies and pass them on to their parents.
The project dissemination model has three steps: (i) “school-based distribution” in which 200 students per school each receive a starter pack of 120 vines; (ii) “Give double” in which the primary recipients are given two starter packs of equal size and varieties to two additional households, and (iii) “longterm adaptation”, where up to 600 farmers, and 200 primary and 400 secondary school recipients continue to use and share the improved varieties with others.
“Children are potentially good influencers of parents on food consumption at home therefore involving them in the dissemination model would enhance adoption/application of new technologies introduced to farmers. The model is also less costly compared to reaching farmers through farmers and gives easy access to a large and diverse number of households”, Kpaka said.
The low level of adoption of improved varieties in Tanzania was due to the low level of awareness and motivation by farmers added Regina Kapinga, IITA Head of Advocacy, and Resource Mobilization
A cross section of the audience.
during an open discussion after Kpaka’s presentation. Kapinga further said Uganda had made significant progress by involving traditional rulers to promote sweet potato. Speaking at an end-of-seminar presentation, Victor Manyong, IITA Eastern Africa hub Director, said evaluating the effectiveness of the project model/approach was very important and the results would be vital in developing related policies. Final results of the impact evaluation will be available in mid-2018.
IITA to co-implement USAID/Hello Tractor Agripreneurs program in Nigeria
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ITA has been selected as an implementing partner in the “Feed the Future Partnering For Innovation,” which is a US Presidential Initiative. This was made known during a ceremony to launch the Nigeria Agriculture Partnerships between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and two agribusiness firms, Babban Gona and Hello Tractor at the Embassy of the United States in Abuja. The ceremony was attended by Chief Audu Ogbeh, Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Maria Brewer, Deputy Chief of Mission; Michael Harvey, USAID Mission Director; the representative of the Emir of Kano; and a host of other dignitaries. Under the $2 million two-year partnership, about 45,000 smallholder farmers in seven
Jehiel Oliver, the CEO of Hello Tractor.
IITA Bulletin 2335
Platform (BIP), as well as from IYA master trainers and Agripreneurs operating out of BIP. Furthermore, Agripreneurs will be trained on postharvest operations, value addition of medium-scale machinery, use of the Smart Tractor, agribusiness management, business models and plans, organizational development, networking skills, and administration.
Honorable Minister of Agriculture Chief Audu Ogbeh delivering his speech at the event.
states and the Federal Capital Territory will have access to smart tractors, improved seeds, and profitable markets. IITA will provide comprehensive training to 100 Youth Agripreneurs in Abuja, Kano, and Ibadan on the business of owning, maintaining, utilizing, and promoting services for a fleet of smart tractors. It is anticipated that 300 Smart Tractors, developed by a young American, Jehiel Oliver, will be sold to these Agripreneurs. Also, they will benefit with increased income through the provision of valuable and needed tractor services to farmers within their community. The IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) will receive training from the IITA Business Incubation
According to Harvey, “This is one of the largest USAID partnerships in the world, as we are concerned about the under productivity of Nigeria’s agriculture sector. “We are committed to strengthening the agriculture sector in Nigeria”, Brewer said. Chief Ogbeh was optimistic that the new smart tractors will complement Nigeria’s food program in great measure, as there are only 30,000 tractors in Nigeria which are grossly inadequate. “There is a future in Agriculture” he advised the youth. He assured farmers that the Nigerian Government has developed a new security arrangement to protect farmers and their farms. Again, he announced that the Government will build 10 dams in each of the 36 states in the next four years to boost farming. Equally, he assured young people that a new agricultural fund to support agriculture will soon be launched. page 3
IITA gender program gets boost with release of factsheet on “Gender in the workplace”
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ITA continuing efforts to mainstream gender across the institute received a boost with the release of the first factsheet on “Gender in the Workplace”. The factsheet provides information about the Institute’s commitment to the promotion of gender equality and equity. It essentially presents what has happened, what is happening, and what will be happening. The document is the first of many envisioned to be produced by the institute in the coming years in relation to strengthening its gender program.
elimination of barriers that militate against gender equality.
IITA has already put in place workplace policies intended to assist in achieving the ultimate goal of an equal and diverse workplace, free of discriminatory practices. Some of the policies include Maternity and Paternity Leave, Compassionate Leave, and the Harassment and Discrimination Policy. They are intended to guarantee equal opportunities for all staff and contribute to the creation of an enabling environment to ensure that the activities of all staff and partners are geared towards the
The Institute aims to provide a workplace in which every staff can realize their potential for excellence; and one where all programs, projects, activities, strategies, policies, and plans will be geared towards the promotion of the interests of men and women equally and equitably. With zero tolerance for discrimination, IITA continues to develop and sustain policies that foster the entrenchment of processes that support gender mainstreaming and capacity building in gender mainstreaming.
IITA is committed to providing a work environment where diversities in gender, culture, and social standing are recognized as strengthening its capacity to carry out relevant and useful research for development. The Women Empowerment Platform (WEP), established by the Director General Nteranya Sanginga, on 11 March 2014, serves to reiterate this commitment to gender diversity and equality.
IITA work featured at Cameroon exhibition
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ITA-Cameroon was very active and visible at the recently organized exhibition day of the Center for Scientific Research and Innovations (JERSIC) in Ebolowa, Cameroon. The event, which was held on 28-29 June, was organized by the Regional Delegation of the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovations and was chaired by the South Region Governor, Felix Nguele Nguele.
stand. Fotso gave a brief presentation of the ongoing research at IITA-Cameroon as well as results obtained. He emphasized on the new cassava varieties released by IITA to boost cassava production in Cameroon in the framework of the Agriculture Investment and Market Development Project (PIDMA) as well as the biofortified cassava under multiplication.
The governor and his team was impressed at what they saw and learned at the IITA-Cameroon exhibition stand, and encouraged the staff present there to continue disseminating the institute’s research findings for the betterment of Cameroonian farmers.
The IITA-Cameroon exhibition stand received more than a hundred visitors, He also gave explanations on the in vitro with staff responding to various queries IITA scientist, Apollin Fotso Kuate, process of producing healthy suckers of about the products on display as well welcomed the Governor Nguele to the IITA banana and plantain. as research work being conducted by the institute. Visitors included farmers, students from the different agri-schools, agricultural researchers and consultants, businesspersons, and representatives of farmer organizations. Most the visitors expressed interest in obtaining planting materials of improved varieties of crops being worked on by IITA. They were also informed about the Banana Bunchy Top disease that occurs in the region. Handouts of various activities were Agricultural produce displayed at the IITA stand. distributed to visitors. The governor and his team view the IITA stand.
Announcements
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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