CDA-BUK Partners Seed Companies to Boost Groundnut Production in Nigeria
INFOMEDIA – Centre for Dryland Agriculture (CDA) has partnered seed companies to boost the production of groundnut and revive it to regain its lost glory as component of agriculture – the mainstay of the Nigeria’s economy.
Nigeria used to be the highest groundnut producer and exporting country in Africa, but a combination of drought, rosette and other diseases wiped out groundnut production in the mid-1970s and early 1980s.
The CDA is currently a stakeholder in the Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and Cereals in Africa (AVISA) Project, which aims to increase productivity, profitability, resilience and marketability of nutritious grain legume and cereal crops: Groundnut, Cowpea, Common Bean, Millet and Sorghum in 7 African Countries.
CDA Produces basic seeds and engages relevant stakeholders to produce other classes of seeds. In the current rainy season, the Centre planted 5.77ha of basic (1.83ha breeder and 3.94ha foundation) seeds.
The CDA also established hundreds of demonstration plots (approximately 300m square) to showcase the potentials of the improved groundnut varieties and large acreage for commercial seed production.
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On Tuesday, 29th September, 2020, the CDA interacted with seed companies and took them round to see the different groundnut varieties being produced by the Centre. These include breeder seeds of SAMNUT 27, SAMNUT 28 and SAMNUT 29, as well as Foundation seeds of SAMNUT 24, SAMNUT 25 and SAMNUT 26.
According to the Deputy Director (Training) who is also in-charge of the AVISA Project in BUK, Professor Sanusi Gaya Mohammed, who took the seed companies round the groundnut seed farms, said ICRISAT and Institute of Agricultural Research in collaboration with CDA have developed and released new improved high-yielding varieties with combined resistance to major biotic and abiotic stresses.
He said the Centre has engaged farmers and seed companies to demonstrate what it is doing in order to appreciate its enormous contributions to the development of groundnut production in Nigeria.
Prof Gaya further explained that there are different innovations through technological advancement that led to the production of disease resistant seeds that were used by the farmers with better output, noting that CDA in collaboration with its partners are doing everything possible to bring groundnut production in Nigeria again to the limelight.
During the interaction, the seed companies that include Seed Project, Innovative Agro Tech, Maina Seeds, Al-Hikma Agro Ventures, Greenspore Agric Limited, Rahama Seed, Tecni Seed, and Representative of the Managing Director of Kano State Agricultural & Rural Development Authority (KNARDA) and many others commended the CDA for its gigantic farm project and reiterated their determination to strengthen their partnership with the centre to boost groundnut production in Nigeria.
