IITA sustainable agric program gives hope of brighter future for farmers in northern Nigeria
October 27, 2009
Resource-poor farmers in the northern Nigeria state of Borno are looking to better times ahead as researchers implementing the "Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in Borno State" (PROSAB) project report significant improvements in livelihoods and food security levels in its covered communities.
The poverty rate of over 17,000 households, or more than 100,000 farmers, that participated in the project dropped by an average of 14 per cent, while food security improved by 17 per cent.
These findings were highlighted at the PROSAB-sponsored conference held last week in Abuja, Nigeria attended by international donors and experts working on reducing poverty in the country and in West Africa.
The confab also officially marked the end of the project's 5-year run.
"The project has been successful because farmers benefited in terms of improved crop yield, incomes, livelihoods and health. More importantly, the knock-on effect on other farmers in the region has been tremendous,” emphasized Dr David Watson, IITA Project Development and Management Director..
Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), PROSAB started in 2004 and was managed by IITA with partners including the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Borno State Agricultural Development Programme, CRED, the Institute of Agricultural Research - Zaria, and the University of Maiduguri.
The project introduced improved crop varieties, trained farmers on improved agronomic practices and promoted gender equality in agricultural development.
Donors and policy makers who attended the conference commended IITA and partners for the effective implementation of the project. The FAO, through its Assistant Representative in Nigeria, Dr Rabe Mani, called upon other states in the same geographic zone to tap the approach used by IITA to help improve the plight of farmers in their communities.
“The technologies are here. So I strongly encourage states in that ecological zone to pick up these technologies and scale them up to develop their communities,” he added.
Apart from reducing poverty in households from 63 per cent to 49 per cent, the project also made significant inroads in increasing women participation in agricultural activities, say Drs. Amare Tegbaru and Alpha Kamara, IITA scientists who worked on the project.
Borno is predominantly Islamic with social interactions between men and women largely restricted by cultural norms. PROSAB introduced interventions that encouraged women to work alongside men for development, a feat normally difficult to achieve given the related religious restrictions.
Tegbaru and Kamara adds that farmers who participated in the project increased their average incomes by about 81 per cent compared to when PROSAB started five years ago. Farmers attribute this mainly to improved yields, better access to farm inputs, and enhanced agricultural skills brought about by the interventions of the project.
Mrs Ndirwa, one of the farmers who shared her personal experience with PROSAB during the conference, testified that the project raised her farm productvitiy and incomes, with her yields of cowpea and maize almost tripling.
She added that other participating farmers whom she knew also had impressive yields during the span of the project.
She thanked CIDA, IITA and partners for giving her, and others like her, hope for a brighter future through PROSAB.
About IITA Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people's lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization since 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.
