The Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project (KSADP) says it will forge a long-term collaboration with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
The Project explained that its aim was to use the global partnership to unite international organisations engaged in research about food security to work towards reducing poverty and strengthening food and nutritional security in Kano State.
State Project Coordinator, Alhaji Ibrahim Garba, made this known when he received a delegation from CGIAR led by Dr Alpha Yaya Kamara of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to the KSADP Office in Kano.
Garba noted that CGIAR was expected to provide a technical backstop in various thematic areas for KSADP.
Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, launched the $95 million KSADP in February 2020 to fast-track agricultural activities and food security programmes.
The five-year-long project is being financed by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Life and Livelihoods Fund (LLF).
During its launch, Ganduje had explained that the scheme was designed to tackle poverty and strengthen Kano State’s food security through the development of agro-pastoral production systems in the state.
Speaking during the visit, Garba expressed confidence in the partnership’s prospects to drive change.
He said, “In executing our mandate, we must work together with you to address issues such as training of extension agents and [provision of] technical support, as well as on issues of value chain development implementation including input, technologies, markets linkages and credit access.
“The project has confidence in the ability of your organizations like IITA and ICRISAT because they have been working for decades in Kano in areas of agricultural productivity and product enhancement and the result of your work is very glaring”.
“We count on your expertise and because you are conversant with the socio-cultural peculiarities of Kano, we are very hopeful that the desired results will be achieved”, he added
On his part, the leader of the delegation team, Kamara, explained that the visit was to discuss critical issues such as the development of harmonised farming systems between SASAKAWA Africa (an NGO) and the Kano Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (KNARDA) interventions in KSADP.
He added that the two organisations will provide extension support, market linkages and training on best management practices, among other things, to crops and legume farmers in the state.
Kamara also disclosed that the KSADP consortium will help in the training of selected Masters and PhD students from the state.
The training, scheduled to hold at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and Bayero University, Kano, would cover milk processing, rangeland management and extension, etc.
“We will also work with seed companies to secure breeder seeds for target commodities and support seed multiplication,” he added.
SOURCE: AGRONIGERIA
