PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Marie K. Thompson
DATE: August 7, 2001
Nigerian
Delegation Visits IFDC
 "Africa
has no reason to be poor since it has such fertile land," says
the Honorable Minister of Agriculture for Nigeria, Mallam Adamu
Bello. Even though sub-Saharan Africa uses less than 1% of the world’s
total fertilizer use, it has many resources that could potentially
be used to produce fertilizer.
If the Minister
meets his goals for Nigerian agriculture, this situation will be
drastically changed. Minister Bello and a Nigerian delegation came
to IFDC and the Shoals area during July 27-28 to learn more of IFDC’s
capabilities and to visit local farms and other agricultural
concerns. In addition to the Minister, included in the delegation
were: Director of Agriculture, Mr. O. A. Edache; Dr. Lami Lombin,
Director of the National Veterinary Research Institute; Dr. Ravi
Aulakh and Dr. Andrew Levin, both with the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID). Previously, when President
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria visited with U.S. President George W.
Bush in Washington, D.C., in May of this year, he promised President
Bush that he would send his Minister of Agriculture to meet with the
U.S. Secretary of State to discuss important agricultural issues.
Later U.S. Representative Earl Hilliard, who represents the Seventh
Congressional District of Alabama and also serves on the House
Agriculture Committee and the Committee on International Relations,
visited Nigeria and invited Minister Bello to visit Alabama and
Tuskegee University in his district. In addition, U.S. Ambassador to
Nigeria, Howard Jeter, arranged for the Nigerian delegation’s
visit to Alabama and IFDC.
"The greatest
challenges facing Nigerian agriculture today are the declining
productivity of the soil, difficulties in accessing farm inputs, and
problems associated with post-harvest management since post-harvest
losses range from 50% in fruit crops to 20% in grains," Bello
says. "My most important goals are to meet Nigeria’s food and
fiber requirements and to increase export earnings, thereby raising
farm income and alleviating the poverty situation."
Previously, USAID/Nigeria’s
Mission Director Tom Hobgood recognized the importance of the inputs
sector and provided the impetus for a new endeavor in Nigeria. When
IFDC initiates this new program in Nigeria in the near future with
USAID/Nigeria funding, Minister Bello has definite ideas regarding
IFDC’s potential impact on his country’s agriculture sector.
"We shall very much appreciate having IFDC to assist us to meet
our goals," he says. "We are impressed by what we have
seen at IFDC and by what its capabilities are. We hope that IFDC can
help in the resolution of the issue of input supplies with the view
to improving the supply of soil nutrients and to generally improve
soil fertility and productivity. IFDC can also assist in the studies
of local raw material deposits for the production of fertilizer.
Nigeria’s President Obasanjo is keen to seek IFDC’s assistance
to investigate the issue of using Nigeria’s indigenous resources
to produce fertilizer. The Center can also contribute to our country’s
human capacity building in the area of fertilizers both for
production and quality control purposes." The International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria will also be
participating in this project.
While visiting IFDC
and the Shoals area of Alabama, the Minister and his delegation
toured a local poultry farm, a cotton and maize farm, a cotton gin,
and a farm cooperative. The delegation had an opportunity to observe
and discuss modern technologies at the farms, especially the use of
precision farming—using computers and a global positioning
satellite system to create detailed soil fertility maps of farmers’
fields. The maps are created after numerous soil samples are
collected from the farmers’ fields and a computer is used to
record the yields as the crops are harvested. The maps help
determine where to apply specific soil amendments such as lime and
how much fertilizer to use in which fields. The Minister is eager to
determine if it is feasible to use this technology in his country.
He hopes to increase the yields of Nigerian farmers’ fields while
saving money on the expensive fertilizers. Minister Bello was
shocked to learn that the Alabama farmer he visited will reap 200
bushels (about 6 tons) per acre from his best corn fields—10 times
the yield of a typical Nigerian field. "I am very interested in
precision farming; I think it can be used by our farmers," he
said.
After leaving
Alabama, the Nigerian delegation was scheduled to meet with the U.S.
Secretary of Agriculture, Ann M. Veneman; the World Bank Vice
President for the Africa Region, Mr. Calisto Madavo; and the USAID
Administrator, Andrew Natsios, in Washington, D.C.
Return
to What's New?
|
