International Research Institute Increases Maize Harvest in West Africa | Voice of America - English
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says crop losses in sub-saharan Africa amount to $200 million a year. As a result scientists at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) are reminding farmers about how to improve soil and crop harvests.
IITA scientists and their partnersworking in Nigeria, Benin and Togo are reinforcing those findings aftercompleting a six-year project called?Balanced Nutrient Management Systems.? The scientists identified better crop varieties andvalidated crop-rotation techniques. They also devised soil fertility technologyand set up cooperative approaches with national researchers and extensionorganizations. Dr. Robert Abaidoo is a soil microbiologistat the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria. Hesays the long-term soil studies advanced their understanding of howdisadvantaged farmers in maize-producing regions can overcome declines in soilfertility and increase farm income. More than 130 million farmers livein the moist savannah of coastal and central sub-Sahara Africa. Many recordannual crop losses. Abaidoo says it?s these farmers who will benefit most fromthe improved techniques. The research shows that thesolution to higher maize yields lies in the proper mix of fertilizers andorganic nutrients, manure made from plant and animal waste. It also proves there are manybenefits from rotating maize with legumes crops like soybean and cowpea, whichare rich in nitrogen and protein. A former IITA project leader,Professor Dan Diels, says by working together the researchers were able to takepractical problems into account and develop simple technologies that could beadopted by farmers. Maize is an important food inAfrica and the main ingredient in several well-known national dishes. Examplesare tuwon masara and akamu in northern Nigeria, Koga in Cameroon, injera inEthiopia and ugali in Kenya. It?s also used as animal feed and as raw materialfor brewing beer and for producing starch. The FAO says over the decades,fertilizers and other inputs to enrich the soil have been used to help improvemaize production in West and Central Africa. In response, maize yields therehave increased from three million hectares 25 years ago to three times thatamount today. As food production has increased,so has the population, which increases demand for more food. To learn more about thistechnology, you can contact IITA headquarters in Ibadan, Oyostate, Nigeria or call: + 234 2 2412626 [ext 2773]