Nigeria partners Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire to ensure food security in Africa -IAR&T ED

Nigeria partners Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire to ensure food security in Africa -IAR&T ED
By; Bayo Akamo, Ibadan.
Executive Director of Institute for Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Professor James Adediran has said Nigeria is presently partnering Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire to ensure food security in Africa through Sustainable Soil-Water-Nutrient Management under increasing climatic change and variability.
Professor Adediran dropped this hint in Ibadan at the closing of a workshop for the scheme, sponsored by West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development.
The IAR&T Executive Director declared that as at present, a total of 2,500 hectares of farmlands had been cultivated with maize, pepper, okra, corchorus green amaranthus and 8000 seedlings of telfaria in Nigeria between 2013 and now.
He maintained that IAR&T as the lead institution under the scheme, has been working with other sister institutions in West Africa to build a vibrant research network to address common challenges in meeting the food security issues in Africa for enhanced agricultural productivity and national development.
According to him, items such as 5000 kg of maize foundation seed; 75kg of pepper; 75kg of okra; 75 kg of corchorus; 75kg of amaranthus and 8000 seedlings of telfaria vegetable; 225 bags of 50kg each of organic fertilizer; 300 Cutlasses; 100 Boots; 200 hand gloves; 100 Knapsack sprayers and 64 water pumps were so far distributed to farmers.
Professor Adediran stressed that the agenda for food security in Africa under the Sustainable Partnership for Innovation is on track, adding that 6 check dams out of 11 earmarked for the scheme have since been constructed in Nigeria with 4 and 1 in Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso respectively.
He also pointed out that two water pans, 48 tube wells and 1 open well have also been constructed at different locations across Nigeria under the scheme as at 2015, adding that “these have contributed to the notable gains and success story in the increased availability of water from check dams/water pans which have made possible the extension of cropping into the dry season after the rains have ceased”.
The Integrated Land and Water Management for Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change (ILWAC) project is funded by the Danish Trust Fund for three years through CORAF/WECARD Competitive Grant Scheme.