{"id":12984,"date":"2026-06-20T12:26:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/changing-lives-improving-fortunes-of-farmers-in-africas-savanna\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:26:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:03","slug":"changing-lives-improving-fortunes-of-farmers-in-africas-savanna","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/changing-lives-improving-fortunes-of-farmers-in-africas-savanna\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing lives, improving fortunes of farmers in Africa’s savanna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the plethora of challenges facing resource-poor farmers in the savannah region of West Africa, agricultural research is helping transform their lives for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deployment of improved seeds, backed by the dissemination of innovative agricultural practices, is helping improve the lot of farmers in northern Nigeria\u2014a savannah area where agriculture is the main source of livelihood\u2014thanks to IITA and partners working on the Sudan Savanna Task Force of the Kano-Katsina-Maradi (SS TF KKM) Pilot Learning Site (PLS) of the Sub-Saharan Challenge Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local farmers say the interventions have raised their incomes, improved agricultural productivity, and enhanced nutrition and health especially of children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy family is happy that I am now a successful farmer. I can now provide them with enough food and send my children to school,\u201d says Mohammed Mustapha, a cowpea farmer in Kunamawa village in Katsina State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a participant in the SS TF KKM PLS project, Mustapha has seen his yield double using the same plot of l and but with improved varieties and agronomic practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was possible because of the training and the improved seeds I acquired from the Sudan Savannah Task Force team that are working on the KKM project. Before, I used to get two bags of cowpea from this field, but in 2009 I harvested five bags which were more than double the initial amount,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Hajia Binta Garba, who heads a women farmer group in Bunkure Local Government Area of Kano State, the drought- and Striga-tolerant cowpea varieties are helping farmers in her group to overcome the negative effects of climatic change in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also attests that the varieties, which are either early-maturing or drought-tolerant, have more than doubled her yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to get one and half bags of cowpea but now I harvest no less than four bags on this same field,\u201d Garba says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Mustapha and Garba, several other farmers in northern Nigeria are tapping the opportunities presented by improved seeds and agronomic practices to better their livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though rich in vast arable l and, northern Nigeria is faced with myriad problems that reduce agricultural productivity and keep farmers in poverty. These include parasitic weeds, pests, diseases ineffective extension systems, poor soil fertility, poor crop management, poor access to information, low access to animal feeds, dysfunctional market and postharvest losses. More frequent bouts of droughts and floods, brought about by climate change, have also had dire consequences on the food security in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SS TF KKM project, which is funded by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), is seeking to mitigate these constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partners in the project include the Katsina State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), Institute of Agricultural Research, Zaria; National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services, National Animal Production Research Institute, Bayero University Kano, Local Government Councils and input and output dealers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alpha Kamara, IITA-Savanna System Agronomist and Taskforce leader, says the dissemination of the solutions is helping boost crop productivity and generating wealth in the drought-prone regions of the savannas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, the team is tackling the limitations via holistic and innovative platforms. For instance, the deployment of drought-tolerant cowpea and maize varieties is helping in mitigating the effect of drought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through experimental studies, Kamara and his team have also established the influence of phosphorus application and plant population on growth and yield of soybean genotypes. They are now recommending that farmers apply nitrogen on Striga<\/em>-tolerant maize and grow it in rotation with soybean applying sufficient quantities of phosphorous on the soybean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In trying to match crops to soils and environments, the research team has conducted trials on maize varieties and planting date interactions, and cereal-legume rotation of yields. Results from the trials are used in assisting farmers in choosing appropriate agronomic practices that will reduce the vulnerability of their crops to drought and Striga<\/em> and improve soil fertility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adoption of these improved technologies by farmers has largely brought relief to farmers in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A grateful Mustapha, smiling, says, \u201cSince I became a farmer, this is my first time of meeting an efficient organization as IITA. If IITA was a woman, I would have married her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from farmers, policy makers in the implementing states have testified to the success of the KKM project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a recent Farmers\u2019 Field Day in Jikamshi, Katsina State, Hajia Fatima Shema, Wife of the Executive Governor of Katsina State; and Dr. Lawal Musawa, the Honorable Chairman of Musawa Local Government Area confirmed that the researches by IITA and its partners were reducing poverty and improving the livelihoods of millions of people who are mostly farmers in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fortunes of many of our farmers have improved in terms of increased crop productivity as a result of the operations of IITA,\u201d they stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wife of the Governor noted that the adoption of improved seeds was important for agricultural development in the state and called on farmers to tap the improved technologies offered by IITA scientists. They also promised continued support for the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pour plus d'informations, veuillez contacter :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alpha Yaya Kamara, a.kamara@cgiar.org<\/a>
Agronome des syst\u00e8mes de savane
IITA-Ibadan, Nigeria<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeffrey Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org<\/a>
Charg\u00e9 de communication d'entreprise (international)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org<\/a>
Charg\u00e9 de la communication d'entreprise (Afrique de l'Ouest)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bureau de la communication
IITA \u2013 Si\u00e8ge
Ibadan, Nig\u00e9ria<\/p>\n\n\n\n

URL : www.iita.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c0 propos de l'IITA<\/b>
L'Afrique est confront\u00e9e \u00e0 des probl\u00e8mes complexes qui minent l'agriculture et la vie des populations. Nous d\u00e9veloppons des solutions agricoles avec nos partenaires pour lutter contre la faim et la pauvret\u00e9. Notre recherche pour le d\u00e9veloppement (R4D), maintes fois r\u00e9compens\u00e9e, repose sur une r\u00e9flexion cibl\u00e9e et autoris\u00e9e, ancr\u00e9e dans les besoins de d\u00e9veloppement de l'Afrique subsaharienne. Nous travaillons avec des partenaires en Afrique et au-del\u00e0 pour r\u00e9duire les risques pour les producteurs et les consommateurs, am\u00e9liorer la qualit\u00e9 et la productivit\u00e9 des cultures, et g\u00e9n\u00e9rer de la richesse gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 l'agriculture. L'IITA est une organisation internationale de recherche pour le d\u00e9veloppement sans but lucratif, cr\u00e9\u00e9e en 1967, dirig\u00e9e par un Conseil d'administration et soutenue principalement par le CGIAR.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the plethora of challenges facing resource-poor farmers in the savannah region of West Africa, agricultural research is helping transform their lives for the better.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[67],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[188],"class_list":["post-12984","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","hentry","location-nigeria","crop-cowpea","item-year-188"],"yoast_head":"\nChanging lives, improving fortunes of farmers in Africa's savanna - 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