IITA hosts Australia Awards symposium on irrigation and water resource management
May 15, 2019
Irrigation specialists from Australia, Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria gathered for a symposium at IITA headquarters on 28 March, as part of the Australia Awards Africa short course on Irrigation and Water Resources Management for Agriculture (IWRM). The Australia Awards, funded by the Australian government and managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, offers awardees the opportunity to study and participate in research and professional development activities.
Soil Scientist and Course Leader Gunnar Kirchhof addresses participants at the symposium
In his opening address, Kenton Dashiell, IITA Deputy Director General for Partnerships for Delivery, welcomed the group and said that IITA’s research is channeled towards making agriculture a profitable venture and a means of moving farmers from lower to middle or upper class. He also expressed the need for IITA to start a project on irrigation.
Gunnar Kirchhof, Soil Scientist and IWRM Course Leader at the University of Queensl and, Australia, explained the important role irrigation plays in the world. By providing water for agricultural activities throughout the year, irrigation helps to increase agricultural productivity, and as a result, improve food security and livelihoods.
He noted, however, that dry l ands likely experience higher temperatures, greater frequency of droughts, and increased water scarcity. According to Kirchhof, “the similarity between the Australian and many African agroecological environments, places Australia in an excellent position to work with African irrigation professionals to achieve food security through efficient and sustainable irrigation systems.”
In his keynote address, Vice Chancellor Joshua Ogunwole of Bowen University in Osun State, Nigeria, appreciated the efforts of IITA in championing African agriculture. He also encouraged the participants to start creating solutions to African agricultural problems, because “we are the ones who know our background, l and, and resources”.
Participating IWRM experts, academics, researchers, and policymakers made key recommendations for irrigation in the dry l ands, including:
Sensitization for end-users through capacity development.
Promotion of the watershed approach to l and, water, and biomass management.
Inculcating a maintenance culture in end-users.
They also noted that private investors, research institutions, government, and farmers must consider it a responsibility to partner and work together to make irrigation a constant practice in the dry l ands.
Olamide Deborah Nwanze is a Senior Research Associate specializing in gender mainstreaming research to inform participatory and inclusive breeding, variety development, and seed systems policies regarding root, tuber, and banana (RTB) crops in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Headquarters, Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Ibadan and holds an MSc and B. Agric in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development. Olamide is a fellow of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development – Gender Responsive Agricultural Systems Policy (AWARD-GRASP) and the Gender Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT). She seeks to apply her gender-mainstreaming learnings, gender-responsive research, and policy development, and review expertise to facilitate women, youth, children, and vulnerable social group’s access to and adoption of agricultural Innovations that guarantee food, nutrition, income, and livelihood security in Africa. Her current roles include mentoring research fellows, development of guides and training manuals, implementation and adaptation of gender frameworks and tools, value chain actors’ engagement as citizen science partners, policy review and redesign, data management, and analysis. Her current research explores mixed methods and participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to capture and highlight gender dynamics, needs, preferences, and challenges stakeholders face within the agricultural livelihood value chain to prioritize gender-inclusive strategies in breeding programs, policy design, and implementation.
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