DAILY TRUST
Tuesday. March 13. 2012
Agriculture
FGN Agricultural Transformation Agenda: How Viable?
AfDB approves $63.2 million for agric research B,~AbotIl
cultural Research for OeV'Clo pmenl of Strategy
TI-I.E African Dcvdop-
Crops in Africa pro;ca
nlmt Bank has approved
largw the produclion of mw.t:, rice, cassava and wheaL These are four of the IU crops iden tified by African leaden: as the region's slnucgk crops. SARD-SC Is ap«ted 10 bendtl farmcn:, farmer associations. privale 5«lor opt!ralions and rdated institutions in low-Income AJl)B member countries
a 163.2 mlWon gr;ulI for
On 9 September. 20 11. "" M,,,,,.. ci Agncuhuoe and Rulal Deve10pmenl pIOIOnted to the Fedel'al CicJyemment Economic Management Team at Ahuja what he descnbed as "" AgncuItuoal Transfoonation Agenda CATA!. The pIOIOntation was _ academIcc proIessionO aOO woth tempt'ng p<OJeCted goal< The docu"""'t Is complete", both content and context This blue print lOr agriaittral transformatIOn is commendclbIe. ~, there are some grey areas that will need to be looked in to.
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oo... ~ olN'~ m
nJgilgf'd
a fiV'C-ynr agrkulture rcscarch and devdopmml project. 1he initiativeaims 10 enhance Ihe pt"oductlon oHourof Africa', top crops, and Improve 0YmllI food and nutrition I«urily in the reg;oni poorest coon" ko. 1be Support to Agri -
such as Benin, lvory Cout. Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.. The proj«t win be implemented by three Africa-based cenlers of the Consullal ivc Group on International Agricultural Rescnch alliancc, namdy the Inlemalional lnstitute of Tropical Agriculture. the In ternalional unler for Agriculture Rcsnrch in Dry Arc<u and the Africa Rice Cenltt. IITA is the projects acculing agency-
In "" ogrkuhw>l """" ~
(OIltriJuta about 4]'M, to the GOP
Cameroon reaps benefitsof investments in agricultural research
mfk concributing less than 1'"' to
""'* """" ~ ~. "" P"'' ' '
in N"l@friaislOhigh that she occupies 11JnI I' -.moo In the \'IOOd ",'hen iI: comes lope!" capital llcome. ThcATA prcxnlllvrryrosy(utunlOr agnruhUA!and ill profKlt'd COI1lJ'bJDons to the «OnoI'I1. 1.tC us look at the sectonaI alIoaiion 10 Agncubun In 1112.00 detmmne: If ~ an pba 10 much hop: on ATA.ln the b"t 30 ~
I,All!'JAbwtll FUNDING for ca55aVll rcsurch in Cameroon is having a pasllive impact as farmers are recording increases in yidd, fewer pc$u and disC"uC" pressure and improved live:lihoods. A statement Issued by the IntlCl'llationai Institute for Tropial Agrlcullure and made available to Otld, Trw' noted that from 10 ton5 per hecla«, fannen with improved varieties arc flOW han-uting ~Wffn 25 and JO lOllS per hcclarc of
an ~ol ~ ffthc~ budgd h;n~bcm ~cd In Agnculture. 5wpc'Ulngty, this)al"
only 1.64'" oIthc Iota! momuc _allocated to agriculture How an "''!' haw: a tum-around in agriculture ",ith this1 Ahhoua:h AT... is f'Mlk'd on tht prrvlle t«tOr, l would howoeYtt susses' I ca.llnuoptlmsn on the pattcltht Bon.. Mirusla-onhlSantqJia td~ol~ IowmIsdungl~ourcconomic wocs.
I'bnlin& nutmab
no. ... of ,.......,.ur ...- "","""
malcrials (>eeds, .-Dings, ~ de) foe opt)
nun yidd nlUll be adopted If lbe JlfUSI;arrurw naISI b:succmfu:.In Nigeru.lherran' irnprowd
Y.U'letiesol stW!I'al crops 1M compmllmy. crop )idd5 U1 N'~ ..~ thc lowest when compam:IlD '-UIqsia. lh~lndonc_and 8razill'heK rauh in poor produaiviIyand lower rmnmcnlJon and tmds to ItI.1kt ~ less attraclJ\'e. ~~ 5'" of the Nip;er..n farmm; utiliu ~ J«ds kr plantuJg. Many Wmtn still hold IcnKIou."'> to Ihdr local varidXs or Wxlraca lOr planting. nll' Agrirukural Transunwon Apda(ATA)prnp05lcsthruscofaboull66m1lion CIWIwSkrm. ),(XX) mctnc lOnsof50fIhum sceds.lll,O mdIiAtcoroa S«dIings.J(XXJ mttric lOD5ofCOflJlllKtrlsand II,(MXInltlriclOlUoirict sctds b- pIan·l"£. '" 2012. 11us IppC"M1 highly owr ambitllM IIId I Mw: my doubt.s how !his an be ach.Jcwd. It wiD COO5CrV<Ilh'l"iy ~ a nurumum of ninc months 10 produce casAV3 siems b pbmlmJ. Vanguard NewspapcT of II ~ yields per W1I. area olland
)anuary,2012IfPOCU'don~S«dcxwnparuel
proaaring NM billion loans Iiun the banks U ICICd and krtiIm procumnmlS. The names 01 ..uc olthcD.ll~ appeM \'Uf unfMnilw in the smI iDdtetry in N''8f!IU. It IS ncaswy to advise that ~ .s«ds to be wed in thb . . -m. . 1m< """"&00<""""" 6dd INk
The.tmlc:ompames in their M5Cerodel.M::f muSI MJkI the ~ 01 procunng J«ds 0I.IUidc N"p ilrthls Pro;«t. I abowanl toobsenoctht
inlcnbonof ATA '" intJoducing Blcotton Yaricbel into the progrllfTlme. b. is impoftant 10 warn that tht USl' 01 amctk:ally modifJCd crops should bc...udal for DOW.. ThesloryofBtaKlOI'I in Inda whcft: n\my Ennen wa-c aIIq;ed 10 ha~ comnUtted suiddr due to thctr iMbility 10 ply Ihnr loans is ~-ery frSL Secondly. we h;M no func:liMaIlcgaI fnrnrworit lOr biosafctyon GMOi In N""~ In .JdilJon, risk -=ssmmI fadIltxs bGMOsaR'tlOIavaibble. r-crtilb.eI" The most CO'ltemplUOUS issue in Nigerian agricuItu~ is irtilizcr pnxumncnt and distribution. One of the rJAtOI' ~ b poor aqJ
"""~ 1he Slatement quoted );dd in Nip is 11ll' bdt o/usc of fcortilim-_
The nat10naI m:rage: ~JOrl of btiUzcr is I) k&fhtctarc which is~ bdawthc African ~ llusabysnWlylowconsumption ntc offcrtllir.a-isa map OII.ISCofluw productMty ofN'JFian agriruhwc. FcrtiIi1.n usc fd from a pcaJr.ofllmillion rndriclONin 1992IOa~
56.700mctric lOllS In 19'Il. A 5UbsidyoflS"on ~"" b<m _ by '''''''''..,...,,ment while additional subNdJcs WCR provided by SOIlll' 5hlt:s. The tnvdY is tJQl 111 spde of thetc .RIb5idies oruy ~ of tiumm ~ able 10 ~ ImilIM" lOr U5IC.. The rtsl of thc fum en a ihe!- pwdwc aI wlCConornical prica of N5,(MX1- 7tmIlMg or failed 10 usc the JlI1Xb:t. Ina countrywhel"e7O"ofll5citJumliw:bdaw $1.0 (NI6?.o)lo.y, how can they alTont 10 buy btiliurs_ NS,OOJper bag. In the ~,pocm mtnt has bcuI respomibIc uJ"OCUfmlCfll.disIriJution and sales of fcrtiIizcn but in the AFA document the privaIc IC'Ctor will be responsiJIc b procurcmmt. distnbuOOn and s.dcs of the product wtu1c Fcdcnl and Stalc GoYmtmcnb wiD dislribu;c Iint.ifu.cr .subsidy YOUChcrs. T1ll' YUOChcr- system being f"adIbtcd by IFOC is .s;aid 10 h;nocworktd In Kano. 8audU and Tarn SlaIa betwem 2009 and 20 II. W'hat is tht gwr.nIce that IhiI S)'SI01l wwId noc dtgmtnIe info an ugly car1d ~ now rlaguins fuel d.idy! In acountfy~ isnkd l4JnJoothc~
COI11.Ipfion indcJ; by the ~ International wha« is !he ~ce thai ~ would
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not be loopho&es iJrfuud~ VW: will the e:stifNtcd 70" of tht N'.,man pl¥Ibtion
mpgedinlllJricuhU«'bcnef"'tromthc~ ~ dIsidy, if" nowha happens totholctNi will flOC be put ofthc prograrnrnd
u-
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£. AUKA ProJJ. of """" Bmtlinr and Biomdry mrrIributtd /Iris pt«:r
from tIv; 1./rfnomi',ofBntift)
Dr. Rachid lianna, CounIry Representative: for the Inlernational Insti tute o f TroptClI Agriculture as Ay ing:""The progress we have tcxby in ClS.AV3 isa rcsull of the inYCSlments Wi! have had rrom org.mizations such as the In tcrnational Fund ror Agricultural Dcvdopment_~ Ibnna made the [OmmCn! while rcct'lving IFAD PTcsidmt, Dr. Francis Kanayo to IITA sta tion in CamC"fOOn. In an Interview wilh journalist utI the siddines, the IFAD Presiden! called on tlleBOVC'"nmcnt of Cameroon and the privale 1«tor 10 kvwIge on the pins made and.scale up tM tcch ncMogics 10 farmen. Accordinglobim, 'Cam. eroon has the potenlial 10 feed itself, if only the COlII'I· Iry could tap iu land and agrotcologkal resources.' While commending UTA and PNDRT for tile resuJIlIi made In ca5PVlI improvement Ind agrlcullure in general. Klnayo described cassava all a crop fOf"oowand lhe fu ture. tli5lorica.Jly, aUmlpU 10 increa.w CI.5P\'lI prodUCtivity bave ~n challCrlged by rests and dlsn5a such as the A(rican rooc and tube r
scale, cassava green illite, Cl55ava mosak Virus discasc, cassava anthracnose diSClUC, cassava bacterial blightlnd rooc rots. Hanna said IFAD fund ing has helped resnrchen to devdop and dis.smlina te ClI5SIVlI VlIriellcs Wlth lTIul tiple resistance and/or 101 er.tllCe 10 pest and di.scue coru;lraints lind 10 dissemi nate natural enemies under the IITA-blolOgJaI control program to ladle some of
lhepesu. The deploymenl of these illlp~ \"ariet!eS by researchers from liTA
incrca.sc In productiVity, IITA and PNDRT In 2010 de\'Clopcd and deployal Cl55aVll chippcn 10 farm en In 25 pilot villages 10 lhe maIO cassava prodUCing zones of Cameroon FabriOlton in the counlry WffC also trallled 10 manufacture lhe chippers locally. These machines facilitated the proccs.sing of CU$ilV;t, .nd e~ drud~ry Ihalls U5OC';lted WIth CUSlV;t manUitI chIpping. Hanna explained thai the machioes helped in reducing Ihe burden ra...cd by fanners csp«aally wommwho arc saddled With the primary
llisto ricaIly, aUempts to increase cassava productivity have been dlallenged by pests and diseases In partnership with the Institute of Agrkultural Research for Dcvdopmellt (lRAD), univcrsitiC$, PNDRT, and the Ministry of Agrkulture and Rural Dcvdopmmt has raised thc countryi cassava production to 3 million tons. Besidt'S yield Increascs. the Improved CII5$IVlI varieties provide the farmers with a menu of uUliza IKm with lOine pu rdy for procnsing Into products such as high quality I larch and pr1; and multipurpose nrictics that an be used for high quality llow, balOn de manNx,ls Wi!1I as boll and caL Many or these VlIrietics also address the spccifK needs of farmcn luch as good lasle,lafinc:ss. CilSC" of peeling. and root peel color. To tacklc postharvest kmcs in cassaVil which Wi!re partly sparked by Ihe
"'1"'"
Sibility or procCS5 Ing the root crop. In rol low-up sllrveys. uscn highlighted the case or usc o f the chippers and good chips' qualilY. Men abo expressed considcnble intct"cst in the usc of the
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Today, KV'CraI non governmental organl7.atlons. com munity based orgamutioN and farmer ass0cia tions are emulating lind replicating this tcchnokJg,. In the fulure, II.nna said UTA and iLSparlners Inlend 10 introduce yellow cassava varieties rich in bet-a.-ca.rolene to farmct"S 10 laddc malnourishmcnl caused by dd'Kiency in ,,!lamin A. At:cordlnB to him, pbns Ire umkrway to make thd ha~n in the shorlt'S1 potsiNe time. He also urged the government of Cameroon 10 encoungc the utilization of cassava in rood products such as bread as being don~ in Nigena and TInzan!iL