{"id":17112,"date":"2026-06-20T12:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/farmers-field-day-and-donation-of-200-hectares-of-land-at-mokwa\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:04:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:04:39","slug":"farmers-field-day-and-donation-of-200-hectares-of-land-at-mokwa","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/farmers-field-day-and-donation-of-200-hectares-of-land-at-mokwa\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers\u2019 field day and donation of 200 hectares of land at Mokwa"},"content":{"rendered":"IITA\u2019s Maize Improvement Program (MIP) with support from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/asiedu-robert\/\">Robert Asiedu<\/a>, the IITA West Africa Regional Hub\u00a0Director, organized a farmers\u2019 field day on 29 October to demonstrate maize technologies for combating\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/web\/isma\/about-striga\/\"><em>Striga hermonthica<\/em><\/a>\u00a0prevalent on the fields of smallholder maize farmers in Mokwa, Niger State and its environs.\n<div id=\"attachment_1599\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_Mokwa.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1599\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_Mokwa.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of happy farmers at the field day in Mokwa, Niger State.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"356\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1599\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1599\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Happy farmers at the field day in Mokwa, Niger State.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nThe day also marked the official inauguration and hand-over of 200 hectares of research land donated to IITA by the Niger State College of Agriculture (NSCA). It brought together participants from IITA, NSCA, the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) Ahmadu Bello University, the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI), and local authorities including the Agricultural Development Project (ADP), the Division Police Officer (DPO), community leaders, representatives of Fulani herdsmen, and local farmers from Mokwa, and the surrounding villages of Ndayako, Tunganoma, and Kwandegi.\n\nDuring the inauguration of the land,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/oyinlola-sylvia\/\">Sylvia Oyinlola<\/a>, Administrator, Western Africa hub representing Asiedu, thanked NSCA for giving the land to IITA to generate technologies for reducing hunger and poverty as well as malnutrition in Africa.\n\n\u201cIITA has been carrying out research work in Niger State for over 20 years, mainly on maize, cassava, cowpea, soybean, and yam. This donation will further enhance the collaboration among IITA, IAR, and NSCA in terms of training and offering job opportunities to the local communities in Mokwa,\u201d Oyinlola said. She also encouraged the farmers to take the field day as an important platform for interacting with scientists on various constraints to crop productivity and production.\n\nIn his speech, the Provost of NSCA, Aliu Mohammed, announced the official handing over of the land to IITA and implored the Fulani herdsmen occupying the land to vacate it before the start of the next planting season. He appreciated IITA for the collaboration and pointed out that \u201cgiving out the land was a combined effort of NSCA and the communities in Mokwa\u201d.\n\nThe field day session was led by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/meseka-silvestro\/\">Silvestro Meseka<\/a>, representing\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/menkir-abebe\/\">Abebe Menkir<\/a>, MIP leader. Meseka said that\u00a0<em>Striga<\/em>\u00a0(witchweed), locally called\u00a0<em>wuta-wuta<\/em>\u00a0(in Hausa\/Nupe), has infested up to 4 million hectares of land under maize production in sub-Saharan Africa, causing yield losses of up to 80% and sometimes 100% under heavy infestation in farmers\u2019 field, especially in areas like Mokwa where low soil fertility and frequent occurrence of drought are not uncommon. He also highlighted the breakthroughs of IITA and partners to eradicate the complex weed. Some of the improved varieties were planted in the demonstration plots adjacent to the\u00a0<em>Striga<\/em>-resistant varieties for farmers to see.\n\n\u201cOver the years, MIP and partners (IAR, Institute of Agricultural Research &amp; Training \u2013 IAR&amp;T) have developed and released several maize varieties that combine resistance to Striga with high grain yields. Each year, at least one improved maize variety is released. IITA and partners have also developed and released maize varieties with enhanced levels of vitamin A to combat malnutrition among children under 5 years and mothers,\u201d Meseka said.\n\nMeseka also pointed out that there was a new challenge to maize production caused by the armyworm (<em>Spodoptera frugiperda<\/em>) in Nigeria and other West African states including Benin Republic and S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe, which had proved very difficult to control.\n\nA total of 110 local farmers including eight women attended the field day. The farmers walked through different maize plots, artificially infested with\u00a0<em>Striga<\/em>\u00a0and non-infested as well as maize varieties with improved levels of vitamin A to demonstrate their performance in the demo plots.\n\nThe farmers thanked IITA and other partners for providing them with the opportunity to interact with scientists and learn from the knowledge transfer process. In his vote of thanks, the officer in-charge of CNRI, Mokwa station, S. Tiamiyu, thanked the participants and commended NSCA and IITA for forging a symbiotic collaboration that will benefit not only the farmers but also the agricultural institutions working in Mokwa.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IITA\u2019s Maize Improvement Program (MIP) with support from Robert Asiedu, the IITA West Africa Regional Hub Director, organized a farmers\u2019 field day on 29 October<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17113,"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":[2115],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[29],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[68],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[194],"class_list":["post-17112","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bulletin-no-2353maizestriga","location-niger","hub-western-africa","crop-maize","item-year-194"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - 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