Drawing from personal experiences as a medical doctor-turned-farmer, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State shared memories that support the importance of agricultural research to sustainable development.
As a one-time plantain farmer, Governor Mimiko told a story of how improved plantains developed by IITA that were resistant to Black Sigatoka restored hope to farmers in his state—Ondo in southwest Nigeria.
“Around the 1990s, I dabbled into agriculture and my first fancy was plantain. I planted 10,000 suckers of plantain as a medical practitioner. I was already calculating what I was going to gain because I was told that I will harvest in 8 months. In anticipation I went to get a 3-ton truck and wrote Iroko Farm on it which later became my political nickname. Within the first 7 months we were able to harvest a few bunches and I was excited and I was told that out of those 10,000 suckers we’ll be able to harvest 5,000 within the next few months… I was already spending the money in my mind. Within a month or two, I went back and found that the plantain were turning black, and out of 10,000 suckers, I could hardly harvest 100 bunches. So somebody who was more experienced told me that Sigatoka was ravaging my farm. Later I got to know IITA surmounted the problem of Sigatoka and that is how far research can go,” he related.
Governor Mimiko also spoke about improved cassava varieties from IITA with which he also had a personal experience.
“Around the time I planted plantain, I decided to plant cassava, and again I planted 10,000 st ands; my friend also planted 100,000 st ands of cassava. At that time all you needed was to take somebody to your farm and the cassava stems will be counted; you will get paid and they will do the harvesting themselves. Probably they were exporting cassava for the manufacture of industrial starch. A st and was three naira and we had calculated how much we were going to make; we even planned to go to Germany and buy some Mercedes cars that we could drive to our farms.”
He explained that the variety which he planted then was Oko Iyawo and was supposed to mature in 9 months.
“Exactly at 9 months when we were about to harvest, exports of cassava were banned and there was nobody to come and buy,” he continued.
Although he sold the cassava for N5000 (about $320), the varieties performed even better after the expiration of their maturity period. “Again that was another essence of research,” he reechoed.
Governor Mimiko commended the founding fathers of IITA and noted that since the inception of the institution in 1967, “there is no question about the fact that we all grew up in Nigeria with a consciousness that IITA as an institute is ensuring that we don’t starve in Africa.”
“I have been told about the accomplishments of IITA particularly with cowpea, and that you develop varieties of maize seedlings that are disease resistant. I have also been told that but for your work here, cassava would probably have been extinct and I think you should clap for yourselves.”
Governor Mimiko emphasized that agriculture remained the mainstay of the economy, contributing more than 40 percent to the GDP of his state.
He commended FARA for facilitating the visit to IITA, stressing that he had no doubt in his mind that agriculture must be a main driver of Africa’s economy.
In this light, he explained that the goal of his administration was to leverage agriculture to enhance household food security, provide raw materials for industry, and generate employment and create wealth for the people.
“We said the strategy to do this is for our government to subsidize and give support for inputs (mechanical tractors, improved seedlings, and extension work) and we have done that for the past four years. In the last five years we have spent N7 billion to support agriculture in the state. Somewhere along the line, we decided that the best way to get new, young entrepreneurs into agriculture was to build agricultural villages—a new agricultural environment with accommodation, and using modern agricultural tools. We built three villages and renovated one farm village and we have been able to get youths to work on this farm. But there is no question about the fact that we still have a lot of gaps in terms of technology, and technical know-how in market access to be able to make a resounding success of this effort,” he said.
For more information, please contact:
Godwin Atser, West and Central Africa Regional Communications Officer, g.atser@cgiar.org
Andrea Gros, Head of the Communication Office, a.gros@cgiar.org
About IITA www.iita.org
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is one of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Its award-winning research for development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 in Nigeria and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana/plantain, yam, cassava, and maize. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.
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