It!,DAllYTRUsr
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Wednesday, October 17. 2012
______________________________~8=G~ illCULTUBE From lu ~1du. KAduNI
Groundnul ..... ODU • ff11 rdl.ble aoura of income (or farmen in the North.etpedal1f, but th.t Kerns not1obc IMQM' what do you think Is ruponlibld U)'\N remember up 10 1975, 1M groundnut prramkh ~rr there_ 11 was. n~rr vbbk lOUra' of income for our r...men. In 1974 and 1975, thert was Ihls
~ ys.
menace of
R~lIc ~.K'
and
I hat WlpW OUI almost 100 pnccool
of lhe crop In I~ two ynrs The crop was compktdy WlpW ()UL Anytune I~rt is drought Ih.I1ll~ p.k:.mt mamf"\. So. the R~lt d~ W1~ (lUI
ABU's research on groundnut would bring back the good old days - Professor Echekwu Professor Candidus A. Echekwu is a specialist in the genetiC improvement of ground nul: He works with th e Institute of Agri cul tural Research (lAR) of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU). Zaria. In this interview with Daily Trusr. he said research conducted at IAR IS returning ground nut farmers to good old days. Excerpts:
1M whole groundnut crop This mad< rapntn 10 be diJOrtcnled bcc.aUK' It was,. diuskr.ju51 hke wt:
tu,,·c the Oood now. peopk wttc
SubJ~ucnt1y.
.frald in gOing ;nlo production of groundnut where therr were .htm.llh~Cfops.. The production
that was so hIgh. mort than 2.5 millIOn tOfU per your. dropped 10 cvC'nluaily uro bcaUK' of
Ih.llt drough t and the ROKttc dl~a<e_ It look government I
Int of ampa.gns
~(O«'
people
~II h",k inlo the produclion of groundnul Su~uently. ~nvernrnent ume up With sorne programmes on agriculture' that were c~nlred on groundnulllIld Ihlt rncounged pmduclion 10 pKk up agam Thrfr W~fT olh<r ulemally funded intuvcnuons IIkr Groundnut GnmpLum Prott'O (GGPJ. which ~fT m~ant 10 Imrro~ ground nul production Ind they engaged in a lot of campalsm. Afl~r Ihal another intervention came up H a follow up to the GOP. whICh was Groundnul Sttd Pro)tct «(iSI') All thest inten-rntMlns ha~ to do wllh brttdlOg and fI.~nclic Imrn~ment of groundnuI 10 tKkk 1M meOKe of Rosette Ihl*' Subsequently. IOtervenll(lfU InI to U'leiLM: of three groundnul varlcll" in Ihe ~ar 2000 by IAR. Two ofthOS('; varielk! weTe dual purpose vUletiu The horn u ~ry good for livestock whlk the pod Is \'ery good for lhe normal oil That was a n~ mno\'1tlon ""heU' ground nul horn can be used for livntock fted. whICh Is a ~ry Importanl component 10 Ihe nonhem part of the country whefT livnlock (<<d is vr:ry dlmcuh 10 find durlOg the dry KHOn ThtK new varielits. SAM NlJT 21. 22 and 2). ~re tlfgcled at addressmg the menace of ROKlte. While doing thll, we abo (orufted high )"tId Ind high otl contenl. 11 ran of the new
From 2000. ~ slarled promotlOg thost \'Inclles. In addition to the good )'lcJd and other morphologial allnhulcs. lhe vanel," aU' Roselle mist ant. Apart from that. Ihey ~re targeted 0111 the GUinea Savanna tcolnglcal mflts. "p«lllIy the Northern GUinea. the Sudan Ind
• PrO' I!SSOt" C.ndldu5 A. EchHwu
((
TOU .hln- wllh us Ih~ rnponK of the farmers? Farmers who lTe Iwar!' Ilf Ihe new vancli" lll~ cnlhu~II~IIC aboul 11 Thl~ " wh~' we w~nt mmefarmenlo!rnow Thew",ld IS growmg but the Informallon about what w(' Ire dotng " not r~lI chmg our farmen In Ihe fl\t mannC'ftru.1 II II surpo~ to be A lot of our ...'t'Irk aJ rMC'arch~r' usual!, finn"" when lOe dr.·ch-'r I product. It Ilourd"Ilethatlhe benefiCIafl" la\ thelf hand~ ~'n Ihev ne ... vancllcs and ulIll1e them. bUI Ihllt I~ nul re-allv lIor Ioh AnOlh~r otga0l7llinn \hnuM takem·e! from u~ Thai link 1\ n(11 let th!'rcl"he ~nh~hlenm('nl IIp<<t is not rt"l there W(, 0111(' not fully eqUipped III carn nUl the eJ.:lenSion lSpt\.t l'or ~ .... mrle. \<lmd-..>th Ilke me IS urn-led lu suhnllt my n~w \',U1C"fy 10 Nalinnal VinCI)' Rdt"l\C' (ommlll("t' for reglslra"on and relca~ ftl' commencement of prodmllnn ~'y work fiOlsh" there. \omebody hn to lalr.e n~·er to (,lI"tend 1110 Ihe farmer' t-.ctau\C' "'mebody like me " al ....).... on Ihe field for re\C'anh before wr can evcn rdca'IC the vanet) Ncrw. ~ go Ihe utla kntllh 10 lake our Y;tnell" 10 farmen (or them to trl' \0 Ihllthey un pau the mformallun 10 th~1f neighbours Some farmen miT tend to be Ikeplinl on whelh~r thC<iC new ",ric-tiu would demand hillh .... al hrmC"n 10 get more- fl(>m produclion cosl? their farms "'hen W'C tlilk aboul Th(' cuitu .....1 prKIIC" ha\'C" qu~hly. we wanl farmers 10 ~I noI changnJ YM pbnl )~ur nJ..e foc IhClr crops We Ire' ~'C"ry gruundnut on norm.al field. mindful of the mdlennlum goah th(' normal Wft"dlnJ. norm,,1 agnlda. We .... nt 10 nnpf"(J\'"C the molding; you IT(' n.,. chllllgmg h~'ehhood of the ru ..... l farmers anythmlt Ih'" yOU do bt-for(' nptdany. Thb Is why .... e IU' m"t W'(' dId is 10 ~I\'C" farmen uylng that W'C have to p1'"oouce a materiallhat would ~,,"C Ih~m u.or:llenl vanclles Ind ~ want better yield O\·('r and above- "."hal farmen to adopt Ih('m.. lf11te~ the)" u.sed to gel. In fad. Ihe cnst varieties tC"malll in 'Oilr 'heh'C"$. o( productIOn would redu,e m U\C of SAMNL'T 24 h«au\C II farrnrrs would nO( benml from Ihem We want farmers Ind Ihe mllurcsmuchearlU!T lornrhmal gc-nen..l public 10 belwafT Ihllt flCld ~ a.!wa)"ll"C'Comm('nd th~ tht5t producu arc lvallabk Ind u~ of ferllhlC"r on ~roundnut. we wanl them Itl U\C them for .. hKh u ~r«ifK tlmagc of ImJ'fO''C"menl of Ihelr Income ,urcrrhosphatc and Ih" ..nuld and In'C"hhood and th~1 "OUt heir farmen to Ute ~nJnut la~1 productiOO as ~ ~r_ nll( the From 2000 when TOU ~l.5lcnce flfmlng thal ~ ~re produced the finl Ihn-cused to. AJllht'V effort! 1O'r" I", "tlclies 10 IISI yea r when you ruumg we are' doInR I' f", the pnkiu("led the (orth "1Irl('ly. c=.c"_""'"'""or.c"=oI=oo='c'=~===_
From 2000, we started promoting those varieties in addition to the good yield and other morphological attributes; the varieties are Rosette resistant
the Sahd lIfl'U whe re groundnul productIOn IS localized. So. W'C haV\" bc-cn promoting those vancliCS whik ~ continued our racarch on groundnul. es~iaUr Ihal W taln hu been ",dding. In Kano. Kauinl. and parts o( lipwa State. desert is encroKhing; the ..... in days havc been going down For Ihls, ....'r" Sla.rtpi th inking on how to come up wlIh malenals thlt can matuU' carli" than Ihe fint VIfKlJes W'C havc ~kopcd. which can a.!w. havc good yk'ld and good od Cool('1")1 So. With the type of mtervnllJon wt' lIfl' Bflling. coupled With 8uYffflmmt's mtefV\'nlton. ~ ~re able III December 20 II 10 U'lea-'C" another variety called SAMNlJT H It Is Ih(' urhcst vanctyol groundnulln the whok: ofWcs! African Sub· region
It is a malena.! thai Wlthm 75 dafl- you can SIUI hlrvntmg So, cycn to 1M C>udan and pari ollt>~ Sahd artU SAMNlJT 14 u a..Ircady making wavn In Ihe Nor1hcrn QJion Savannlh you can plint tldl materia.! up 10 two tunn-. You can planl It in May and wllhln 70 10 75 days II would mature and you ca.n UK the 5t'cd to"pllIJt itagam WIIa! do far-nun sland 10 .chitve (rom all theM" mearehel by Tou r lnstltulef Of ("ourse. all we arc talking Ilrre is largeted al the farmen Wc Ife not pmdUCII'P: n~w nnrtln for the govn-nm~nt but (Of Ih~ farmc'rs. \\ot(' Ire lwar!' of the tlI"~talions oftne farmers We have 10 impf"(J\'"C Iheir Jiving condilion' and lodo thai wc have to incrcaY' their (arm income So. when ~ talk lboul )·idd, ~