25th April, 2024
The African Development Bank (AfDB) says it will partner with Bayero University Kano (BUK), on entrepreneurship and climate adaptation towards addressing food security in Northern Nigeria.
Dr Beth Dunford, the AfDB Vice President of Agriculture, Human and Social Development, made this known on Wednesday when she visited the University Centre for Dry Land Agriculture in BUK.
She said: “I am very impressed with the track records of the centre in winning multiple grants and awards and also in terms of education.”
According to her, agriculture needs to be transformed to provide food security, by using high-level science and technology.
“We saw scientists working on improved varieties and soil testing to ensure that farmers are planting the right crops.
“We found out that with the intervention in 2023 through the National Agriculture Growth Scheme supported by AfDB, we were able to get a heat-tolerant wheat variety,” she noted.
Dunford said such effort would help farmers to plant climate adaptive approved varieties of 150,000 hectres of wheat.
She added that it would also increase yield from 2.8 metric tonnes to over 4 tonnes per hectre, apart from improving livelihood, innovation, entrepreneurship and food production.
On his part, the Vice Chancellor of BUK, Prof. Sagir Adamu-Abbas, commended the AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, for his support and contribution to agriculture.
The Director, CDA, Prof. Jibrin Mohammed-Jibrin, said the centre was established in 2012 to improve livelihoods, resilience and sustainable use of natural resources in African dry lands through training and demand-driven research.
“The centre has won several grants for research.
“In our immediate environment, we are working with 22 adopted communities, we also work across the dry lands of Nigeria, West and Central Africa,” he said.
(NAN)