By Funso Alarape
Monday March 4, 2024
Please, share this story:
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has promised to support Nigeria with $134 million for the cultivation of rice, maize, cassava and soybeans to boost food production.
The President of AfDB, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, stated this last Saturday after visiting the Centre for Dryland Agriculture (CDA) at Bayero University, Kano.
Adesina said the bank would support Nigeria in cultivating 300,000 hectares of rice and maize, 150,000 hectares of cassava, and 50,000 hectares of soybeans during the 2024 planting season.
“This March, the AfDB is supporting Nigeria to cultivate 118,000 hectares of heat-tolerant varieties of wheat and another 150,000 hectares of maize,” Adesina said.
“We live in an era of climate change and yet only 3 percent of African agriculture is under irrigation. We have to make sure we help our farmers with information that is timely and appropriate.
“We have no alternative but to adapt to climate change; adopt better ways of using water, particularly in the cultivation of dry land crops that are more resilient and tolerant.”
The Agro-economist said the AfDB would provide grants for the CDA and collaborate with it to become a center used for the prediction of weather patterns and the gathering of information that would make farmers plan better.
“We will work with the center to become one of the centers of excellence in technology,” he said.
“We will also support youths to develop their business ideas into reality with our 20,000-dollar grant on `Agri Pitch’ and `Agri Hacking’.”
Adesina commended Sagir Adamu-Abbas, the vice-chancellor of Bayero University, and Jibrin Mohammed-Jibrin, director of CDA, for assisting farmers with access to technology in the face of climate change.
“The center is dedicated to improving livelihoods, resilience, and sustainable use of natural resources in African drylands through training and demand-driven research,” he said.
He said the CDA had received several World Bank grants for research and had so far enrolled about 1,153 doctorate and master’s degree students and trained farmers in agroecological practices.
CDA is a World Bank-supported center established to serve as a regional training hub for the West and Central African sub-regions
We are here to serve you with quality news and information.
However, your donations, reactions, and advert placement are welcome.
Contact us on 08033783144 (WhatsApp)
08023469999
idowuadelusi@yahoo.com, idowuadelusi@gmail.com,
thepathfindernews0@gmail.com
Follow our reports also on X @idowuadelusi and Facebook.