Scientists and development specialists met on World Food Day to discuss policies that will enable the growth of food, agriculture, food security and livelihoods in the South Western region of Nigeria, and address the obstacles behind it.
Participants to the one-day focus group discussion in IITA headquarters in Ibadan came from IITA and UKAid Department for International Development (DFID).
In his welcome address, Deputy Director General for Partnerships and Capacity Development Kenton Dashiell said that IITA has developed new modalities and technologies to address these development issues and get these innovations to the end users.
Responding on behalf of DFID, the regional coordinator of the South West Region, Dr Adesina Fagbenro Byron thanked IITA for providing knowledge on agricultural research but also noted that more needs to be done on disseminating the results of this research.
Referring to agriculture as an existing “diamond”, he said, “I hope this meeting will start the process of ‘washing’ the diamond and to also solve the information use gap and deficiency in agriculture as well as food security in the south west of Nigeria.”
He added that DFID’s economic growth policy promotes support for non-oil growth and will further push for agricultural growth in the region.
Commenting at the meeting, the facilitator, Dr O.A.K. Adesehinwa of the Institute of Agricultural Research & Training (IAR&T), thanked IITA for championing the cause of agricultural research and food security in Africa and Nigeria in particular. He said the meeting was “ordained” because “today is World Food Day and considering all that IITA has achieved in research, there is no other place to host the meeting but in IITA”.
He also cited the institute for actively engaging the youth in agriculture by changing their orientation towards the vast business opportunities in agriculture.
He said that if government in the south west can adopt the model of the IITA Youth Agripreneur (IYA), agriculture would move to the next level as less focus will be on oil and gas, which have been the major sources of income for the government in the last few decades.
The meeting was attended by several IITA scientists who presented on the innovations on food value chain on crops such as soybean, yam, maize, and cassava. IITA scientists included Drs Antonio Lopez and Ranjana Bhattacharjee who presented on yam; Mr Remi Adeleke on soybean; Engr Lawrence Kaptoge and Dr Silvestro Meseka on aflasafe and maize; Dr Richardson Okechukwu on cassava value chain; and Dr Alfred Dixon, head of the Partnership Coordination Office.
IYA representative Ayodeji Idowu, in his presentation, advocated for youth support and involvement in agriculture. He reported that the IYA model is being replicated in DRC and Tanzania and in the northeastern part of Nigeria with the just-concluded training of youths in Borno State.
The interactive sessions revealed gaps in knowledge on the value chain benefits in some crops especially yam.
A representative of the Osun state government, Mr Aikulola, said the state government is looking forward to partnering with IYA on how to effectively engage the youth in agriculture.
Speaking on effective agricultural policy and poverty reduction, Dr Fagbenro spoke about the important mechanisms needed for any policy to work effectively, including some policy tools.
At the end of the meeting, comments and recommendations were also discussed. A key consensus was that government should be encouraged to engage the youth in agriculture and also be committed towards food security and agriculture.
The participants agreed that if even 1% of the oil subsidy is earmarked for agriculture, there will be a huge difference in the sector.
For more information, please contact:
Katherine Lopez, k.lopez@cgiar.org
About IITA, www.iita.org
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 nonprofit organization founded in 1967 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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