Business Post Contributor
By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
On a yearly basis, Nigeria spends about N268 billion for the purchase of agricultural chemicals, the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) has disclosed.
This, the institution said, along with agricultural research, is geared towards achieving the federal government policies and programmes on food security and sufficiency.
The Executive Director of the institute, Mr Mohammed Ishiyaku, while speaking Abuja, noted that with the high cost of farming chemicals in the country, integrating more farming technology will effectively boost Nigeria’s agriculture.
According to him, “The choice of technologies rests with the farmers. However, based on the mandate given to us by the government, it is our obligation to develop those technology options with potentially high economic and food security benefits to farmers and our country.”
In addition, the IAR boss mentioned that N58 billion can be generated on a yearly basis from the new maize variety, Tela maize when adopted by 10 per cent of farmers due to its higher yield of 19 per cent when compared with other traditional maize varieties
Recall that sometime last month, the federal government granted environmental approval for evaluation and open cultivation of Tela Maize developed by researchers at IAR, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
While the new maize alternative was studied to resist Fall Armyworm (FAW), stem borers, and tolerate moderate drought, there were rumours around its safety for consumption, which was later debunked by researchers of the institute.
“TELA maize varieties are genetically modified to tolerate mild drought and to self-protect against certain insect pests especially stem borer and Fall Armyworm.
“Adopting those technologies is a responsibility left to farmers, who are smart and know what is good for them.
“In addition to drought, incidences of insect pests, especially the recent breakout of the invasive FAW is a big threat to maize production in Africa with an estimated yearly yield loss worth $2.48 – 6.19 billion in 12 countries including Nigeria,” Mr Ishiyaku said.
With the continuous investment in research and chemicals/technology on pest control, the government-funded institute assured that Nigerians have no reasons to fear any product as all necessary measures are taken to ensure they followed approved regulations guiding such research.
