Refined agronomic practices and crop varieties improved to withstand environmental stresses help farmers realize the vast agricultural potential of northern Nigeria.

By addressing the plethora of challenges facing poor farmers in the savanna region of West Africa, agricultural research is helping transform their lives for the better.

The deployment of improved seeds, backed by the dissemination of innovative agricultural practices, is helping improve the lot of farmers in northern Nigeria - a savanna area where agriculture is the main livelihood - thanks to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and partners working on the Sudan Savanna Task Force of the Kano-Katsina-Maradi Pilot Learning Site of the Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Program.

Local farmers say the interventions have raised their incomes, improved agricultural productivity, and enhanced nutrition and health, especially for children.

"My family is happy that I am now a successful farmer," says Mohammed Mustapha, a cowpea farmer in Kunamawa village in Katsina State. "I can now provide them with enough food and send my children to school."

As a participant in the project, Mustapha has seen his yield double using the same plot of land but with improved crop varieties and agronomic practices.
"This was possible because of the training and the improved seeds I acquired from the Sudan Savanna Task Force team that are working on the project," he explains. "Before, I used to get two bags of cowpea from this field, but in 2009 I harvested five bags, which was more than double the initial amount."

For Hajia Binta Garba, who heads a women farmers' group in the Bunkure local government area of Kano State, drought-tolerant and Striga-resistant cowpea varieties are helping farmers in her group to overcome the negative effects of climatic change in the region. She attests that the varieties, which are either early maturing or drought-tolerant, have more than doubled her yields.

"I used to get one and half bags of cowpea, but now I harvest at least four bags from this same field," Garba says.

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.

Though vastly rich in arable land, northern Nigeria faces myriad problems that reduce agricultural productivity and keep farmers in poverty. These include parasitic weeds, pests and diseases; ineffective agricultural extension systems; poor soil fertility, crop management, access to information and availability of animal feeds; and dysfunctional markets and postharvest losses. More frequent bouts of drought and flooding, brought about by climate change, have had dire consequences on food security in the region.

The project, which is funded by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, seeks to mitigate these constraints.

Partners in the project include the Katsina State Agricultural Development Programme of the Institute of Agricultural Research in Zaria, National Agricultural Extension Research and Liaison Services, National Animal Production Research Institute, Bayero University Kano, local government councils, and input and output dealers.

Alpha Kamara, IITA savanna system agronomist and taskforce leader, says the dissemination of the solutions is helping to boost crop productivity and generate wealth in the drought-prone regions of the savanna.

According to Kamara, the team tackles the limitations using holistic and innovative platforms. For instance, the deployment of drought-tolerant cowpea and maize varieties is helping to mitigate the effect of drought.

Through experimental studies, Kamara and his team have established the influence of phosphorus application and plant population on the growth and yield of various soybean genotypes. They now recommend that farmers apply nitrogen on Striga-resistant maize and grow it in rotation with soybean, applying sufficient quantities of phosphorous on the soybean.

To match crops to soils and environments, the research team has conducted trials on the interactions of maize varieties and planting dates, and of cereal-legume rotation on yields. Results from the trials are used to help farmers choose appropriate agronomic practices that reduce their crops' vulnerability to drought and Striga and improve soil fertility.

Farmers' adoption of these improved technologies has brought relief to many of them in the region.