40 -Vanguard. MONDAY. JULY 3 0.20 12
Financialvanguan:t
Agric
Nigeria releases Vitamin A maize to improve nutrition By J"10A EABATUN DE wilh agenC'f r eports
T
he National Variety Release Committee of Nigeria has released two DeY{ maize bybrids Imown as He maiz.ehyb 3 and Ue maizehyb
4 thai can provide more vitamin A in the diets of m.illtons in tb~ country. The released hybnd s recognised as rITA bybrids A0905·28 and A090S·32, respectively. have faised optimism about stemming the menace
of
vitamin
With about 20 per cent of households consuming It at diIJerent times within a week.. . 1bese hybrids will provide not only increased amounts of provitamin A but also improve productivity In farming communities," he said. Farmers who parbdpated in the on·farm trials indicated that they liked the varieties, sO"lbeJe.-is-a lugh prospect lor quick adoption. UTA and IAR&T, In partnership with private seed
companies, now plan to multiply these hybrids so they can begIn distributmg them to farmers by 2014, and to continue to develop higher levels of vitamin A in maize by conventional breeding. "We plan to target areas where maize consumption is high to help address the problem o f vitamin A defidem:y in Nigena, " saul. Dr. Samuel Olakojo, a maize breeder with IAR&T, who worked on the varieUes with Menur. The release of vitamin A cassava in Nigeria last year should help pave the way for broad acceptance of
the Vltamm A millZe. These new maize varieties are well suited to the troplcal lowlands of many West African countries and ate expected to spread beyond N'i9eria's borders . in a paraUel effort, the international Maize and Wheat Research Center (lrnown by thelt Spanish acronym CIMMYr) - a sister CGIAR Center of UTA - has been breeding mid· altitude vitamin A·tich varieties for Zambia in a project also fu nded by HarvesLPlus, with release antidpated later this year.
A
deficiency in Ihe yea~ ahead, espedally among children, pregnant women, and
mothers. The pro vitamin A is converted by Ihe body into
VItamin A when the maiu IS ea1eoi '"The hybrids are a product of neatly 8 decade of breeding for eqhaoced levels of provitamin A. .. says Dr. Abebe MenJar. maize breeder with lbe h.emationaJ lnsUtute of n-opi~al Agnculture (IITA). who If=d the Ilevelopmeni of the n~ maize hybrids. The !hybrids o utperformed local check.s with yields ranging from six to nine tons pet bfClare t:ompared with two tops per het1arerecorded on mostlanncl'S' fields. The lfitamin A hybrids were deve~oped by lITA in partnership with the Institute of Ag*cultUICl.. Research & Train ng (lAR&n using cony bonal heeding In a proje t funded by the HU"ls1Plus-a Challenge Progr moftheCGlARaspart 01 str tegles to address lhe prev lenc e of vitamin A de~1cency. Other co rating I~rtners include the 1 ti{ute lor Agricultural Rese'1tcQ (IJ\R), Zana ~mv,TSl(Y of MaiduguTl ~ona1 ~IDZeand Wheat Cenle{ (CtMhnl1, Universll) of I1l..i.Oou:. and UruVerslty of
WlSco~
In
rigeriil,
vitamin A
d~cy aHUds about 30 per
cent Cff children below five
Y"""'a
atJe. ~IIIost per of p men. 20 and 13cent per cent mothers Yitam n A- deDcien~ I~wers
~:rl~llg
unIDJ' W
VIS'O", wlu can lend"npallS to blindness and dea.\hRes arche~ say the two hybn can supply enhanced
I-:Wvilamm
Am
thew""
M . consUtl!ed by millions of pea Ie throughout Nigena, wbelhFr roasted and eaten off the cop or as a dlSh prepared ~m f~ented :naize Dour. ~ to f. · te~ mruze is l~ nl0rt frequently consumed staple in Nigeria
Minister promises to support commodity associations
T
he MiDlsler of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwuml Adesina, has promised to provide support that will strengthen commodity assOCIaUons m Nigena The minister made the promise lD Ahuja on 1Uesday when Mr James Aworu)'l. a member of the Cassava Value Chain programme of the ministry led some cassava fanners and processors to hl5 oUice. The rrunister commended the fanners and the processors for contonning to the: Federal Government's policy 01 20 per cent cassava inclusion in bread·making. Adenna sdld the Federal Goverrunenfs policy was about taking advantage of what Nigen.a produces to develop and lauded the farmers' dog9edness in condemrung calis that cassava bread was hannful to health "I am happy about the way you rose up in support of cassava in this country. Our
decL5lon to mclude cassava Ul bread-maklng is purely an economic decision. '"The Federal Government will continue 1& create the enabling environment and the appropnate instrument for farmers and processors to grow, .. he said. Adesma promised to address aU challenges facing the cassava stakeholders by meettng regularlYWlth them . He sdld that the Cassava Value Cham programme had begun to yield results as the country had started exporting high quality cassava flakes to China Earlie!; Awoniyi had Said that they were on the visit to express appreciation to the minister for his efforts in transforming Ule sector. In hIs remarks, Mr Segun Adewwni, President of Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA), urged tbe mUll5ter to mclude National \'buth Service Corps members as agnculture extension officers. H£ said the N 1 blUion
commercial agriculture lund had not been judiciously used by states and suggested that the mllUStry Introduce land development programmes to Increase cassava producUon. Mr Femi Salami. a member of the National Cassava Processors and Marketers Association (NCAPMA), saJ.d that the Federal Government's cassava development policy had helped in resusdtating the association's business . "The advent of lhis administration has brought hope to some of us We want this policy sustained, ~ Salami
.....
He urged the IIUnlSter to help the association to facili1ateaccess to loans from the Bank of Agnculture. Mrs Folusho Olaniyan, Managing Director 01 the United "Irading Company (lJTC), lauded the reduction o( uu:entive on cassava active agent. thereby encouraging bakers and millers
BRIEF Former NACCIMA President urges adequate incentives to boost agric sector performance A former President of the .t-\Ni9erian Association of Ch ambers of Commerce, Indus try, Mines and A9ricullure (NACCIMA), has called for adequate incentives, information and accessible funds to boost the performance of the agricultural sector. Dr. Simeon 011:010 dunn9 the week in Aha said that he was worried that over 50 years aner independence, Ni9eria could sWI not attain rood security. He noted that over 70 per cent of Nigeria's population were hungry and ill abject poverty, in spiteol the billions of dollars ea:pended on food imports annually, and advocated for 'drasllc ' measures to address the anomaly. According to him, some countnes 10 Alnca, Asia and South America have used the agricultural value chain concept to transform their agricultura1seC'tor. He said that Nigena could achieve such feat If the government could integrate smallholder farmers through the formation 01 cooperabves. to fast·track the agricultural transformation process. Okolo, therefore, challenged the slate governors to take advantage of the Nigeria Incentive Risk Sharing Scheme for Agncultural Lending (NISRAL), a CBN initiative. to improve lood producbOn. He also urged the governors to boost increased production of both food and cash crops that they have competitive and comparative advantage m, as the sure way to overcome poverty and ensure food security in the country.
The high rate of poverty in the country, he said. called for urgent action, to revive the agriculture sector acknowledged as the mainstay of the naUon's economy. He reiterated the need to re-.onentate the stakeholders on the value chain concept to ensure its success