BUSIN ESS DAY, Wednesday 03,June 2009
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Scientists foresee 'r ise in Nigeria's maize production pe r hectare of maize this year: Ihe good news i!: that cientists working doubling maiu production on maize research in Nigeria is practicable. The have demonst.rated research also proved that we the ability of toeaJ can be better farmers and farmers to double maize make more money if we use yields in Nigeria from 1.5 appropriate technologies." Accordi n g . to th e tons per hectare to three tons per hectare annually. scie nti sts, results from the two-a nd -a- h alf-"year using improved seeds and project. which was I}mde<L agronomic practices. O.A Adenola, president, by Nigeria's Federal Ma ize Association of Ministry of Agricuhurt and Nigeria, in a re cen t Rural Development, which interview, said farmers . started in 2006. indicated in the research projec t _ that Nigeria could double harvested about three tons h e r c u rren t total maize
OlUYINKA AUWODE
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roduction of abou t seven qlilIion tons to 14 million toIlS. I The research. which involved thousands oflocal farmtts under the umbrella Orthe Maize Association of Nigeria, was a collaborative wOTk by a group of sci(fltists drawn from the Int ernat10 nal Institute of T ropical Agriculture (lIT-A). I nstitu t e of Agricu ltu ral Resea r c h and Training (lAR&T). National Rice/MaizeCente r - National Accelerated fFood Production
Programme, Institute (or of the project we re major Agricultural Resea rch . pest, which is stem-borerNational Ceruls Resea rch resistant and early maturing Institu te; the Na t iona l varieties: "The project established Agricultural Extension and Research Uaison Services that Nigeria could double (NAERLS). maize production from Oyewole Ajala. liT A's 7 . 1 m ill ion tons t o 14 maize breeder and project million tons per annum if leader. said the research our recommendations are achieved the results afte r implemented. Findings from deploying maize varieties the project support the need that were tolerant of low for the Nigerian governmenl nitroge n . dro u ght. a n d to set aside money to mop up excess maize to avoid a striga, a cereal disease. Ajala expl ai ned that price crash in the fut ure. A other maize varieties given guaranteed minimum price ~o farmers during the course -to be set by the government
is required to keep farmers on the farm ~ he noted. Available data have also indicated that between 2006 and 2007. maize varieties released by UTA and partners boosted production, but the absence of an effective mop- up mechanism led to price fluctuations. According to the Food aDd Ag r iculture O rgani sation (FAD). Nigeria's maize production du ring the pe riod rose from 7. 1 million tons in 2006 to 7.8 million tons in 2007.
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