FOOD & FARM-APRIL-MAY-2012

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April 路 May, 2012

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ISSN : 2141-730X

Obasanjo lauds UTA for leading efforts in developing vitamin A fol l~wed

F

Dr mer N igerian Presidcnt Oluscgun Oba •• n jo has cD mm e nd e d l he IntcrnatiDnal Institute of TrDp ica l Agriculcure (!ITA) for successfully lea din g effo rt s in developing provitamin A cassava varieties.

"The eITDn put in the deve lDpme nt Df these varieti es is co mmendab le:' says Obasanjo during a elosed-door meeting with the UTA Di~tor General, Dr. Ntera nya Saoginga. in Aoc'Qkuta.

The provitamin A CilSSa\'a varieties whic h are the firsl ever biofon ified crops in Ni geria. were developed

by IITA wilh fund ing from HarvestPlus. The National Roo t Crops Research Institu te was a local panner.

O basa nj o said . "The Yl ri e l ies w i ll offer consumers morc nutritious food recipes especially

c a s s a v a thCliscofpalrnoitwhich hitherto has been used by ~)' farmers to anain the yellowish color.

garia ronn of processed cassava that is gJlIled ami roasted into gntnules . ~ In Nigeria, vitamin A deficiency arniels about 20

'111i5 means that the gari being produced from these

\'arictics will have a higher

=~~t~~~~~~;~;: shc:lf life:- says Obasanjo

under five. Most of those who is also I ITA's afflicted live in the roral AmbassadorforAfriea.

The for mer president areas where poveny is emphasized that the relath-elyhigher. yellow- root cassava Economically. annual varieties would help in losses in Gross Domestic t ackling vi t amin A Prod uct (GOP) as a resul t deficiency and also make of vi lamin and mineral cassava produCIS such as deficiencies in Nigeria are gari more nutritious. estimated al over USS 1.5 ]n his responsc, Sanginga billion. according 10 said that the development Nigeria's Minister of Dfthe varieties was a major Ag riculture and Rural breakthrough that WDuid Developme nt. Dr. Akin change the nutritiDnal Adesina Dn March 17 stalUS Df people living on during the launching of the cassava-based food . new pro-vilaminA cassava He also noted that plans by varieties. the Nigerian gD\'emment Apan from olTering more tD include cassava in bread access to vi tam in A. the would gel a boost with the improved varieties will inclusion of the more r e d uce I h e cost of nutritious varieties. producing cassava recipes " l] ut thesce lTons require such as ¥ari by eliminating

th e support of all stakcholdc rs,"hcaddcd.

Released by the Nigerian National Varietal Release Committee, the vitamin A cassava va rietie s arc named as UMUCASS 36, UMUCA SS 37. a nd UMUCASS 38; and are

TMS 01 / 1412. and TMS 01 / 137I.rcspccti\'cly.

The yellow root oolor of tnevitaminA-rich\'aricties are products of over 20 years of breeding cffons for improved nutritional quality using traditional breeding m e thods involving hyb ridizatio n and selection of cassava

seedlings

by

donnl propagation of the

seJecu:ddesirnbleplants.

Farmers who panicipa ted in the trials o r the varieties ac ross Nigeri a loved the varieties fDr thcir high yield ing a bil it y a nd r esistance 10 major diseascsaodpcsts.