In an effort to intensify the production of certified seeds and to increase the productivity of smallholder maize farmers in West Africa, about 80 stakeholders involved in the implementation of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project, convened at IITA, Ibadan, on 2-5 May. The 2018 work planning meeting provided an opportunity for participants from the four West African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, and the Republic of Bénin, to discuss the best approaches to promote certified seed of multiple stress tolerant maize varieties in Africa, while motivating seed companies to serve farmers more effectively and efficiently.
The 4-day annual workshop was attended by maize breeders, scientists, researchers, seed company representatives, policy makers, extension agents from the national agricultural research systems (NARS), the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), CIMMYT, and IITA. The workshop aimed to provide a platform to discuss progress made in the previous year, devise measures to overcome challenges in the execution of project activities, and draw strategies for implementing partners’ work plans for 2018.
May-Guri Saethre, IITA Deputy Director General, Research for Development (R4D), gave the opening remarks, during which she lauded the stakeholders on the progress made in maize research and encouraged them to keep upholding IITA’s legacy. “IITA and its partners have done a good job in the improvement and release of maize varieties. These have resulted in tremendous progress. For your research impacts to be felt by more farmers, please, endeavor to secure a second phase for this project when it ends, to enable you continue the good work you are doing. I commend you all to use this opportunity to deliberate and synergize efforts to ensure sustainability of improved maize production in Africa,” Saethre added.
The STMA project seeks to develop maize cultivars with tolerance and resistance to multiple stresses for farmers, and support local seed companies to produce seed of these cultivars on a large scale. STMA aims to develop a new generation of over 70 improved stress tolerant maize varieties, and facilitate production and use of over 54,000 metric tons of certified seed.
In his presentation on the role of STMA in the transformation (planting for food and jobs [PFJ]) agenda of the government of Ghana, Robert Asuboah, from the Grains and Legumes Development Board, Ghana, stated that maize st ands out as the main beneficiary crop of the PFJ campaign in Ghana. He added that the STMA varieties are receiving enormous attention in production and upscaling because of their inherent advantages and tolerance for stresses in the environment.
While enlightening the participants on the progress and prospects of the seed sector activities in Nigeria, Olusegun Ojo, NASC Director, stated: “It is worth mentioning that over this period, the seed industry processing capacity increased by 40% with many companies migrating from manual processing to acquiring their own state- of-the-art modern seed processing equipment thus creating more jobs for the unemployed. So, we need to do more to ensure we meet the quality and quantity needs of maize production by 30–50%, and provide 5.5 million smallholder farmers with improved maize varieties in the target countries.”
Echoing the resolve to increase efficiency, Cosmos Magorokosho, STMA Project Leader for CIMMYT and IITA, said: “The project emphasizes the use of innovative breeding tools and techniques, increased commercialization, and strong partnerships with the public and private sectors to increase farmers’ productivity and income. However, Africa needs CGIAR centers to meet the high dem and for maize and other crops and feed a growing and prospering population.”
IITA Maize Breeder Abebe Menkir corroborated the need to promote diverse multiple stress tolerant varieties through different channels. He emphasized that it was necessary to actively engage the national and regional seed companies to build the capacity of partners to market multiple stress tolerant maize hybrids.
As part of promoting the availability of stress tolerant maize varieties, a new book titled “Advances in Genetic Enhancement of Early and Extra-early Maize for sub-Saharan Africa”, co- authored by Baffour Badu-Apraku and M.A.B. Fakorede was launched during the meeting. Copies of the book were presented to representatives of each country in recognition of their successful work on the STMA project.
In concluding the meeting, Badu- Apraku, IITA Maize Breeder, expressed sincere gratitude to all participants, saying: “Without your support and collaboration, I don’t think we would have made much progress. I believe with all the planning that has been made this year, nothing can stop us from achieving great strides.”
The workshop closed with an award ceremony chaired by Robert Asiedu, Director, Research for Development, IITA-West Africa, and Melaku Gedil, IITA Molecular Geneticist. Ghana received the best team award for technology promotion with Benin as the runner- up, while the best team award for maize breeding went to Nigeria with Mali as the runner-up. The session also incorporated the presentation of awards to Tsedeke Abate of CIMMYT, Amare Tegbaru of IITA, Ntji Coulibaly from Institute of Rural Economy of Mali, Chabi Yallou from National Institute of Agricultural Research of Benin, and Simeon Bamire, from Obafemi Awolowo University, for their years of dedicated service in pursuit of STMA’s objective of increasing food, income, and livelihoods of the resource-poor farmers in Africa.
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