IITA sustainable agric program triggers 14 per cent drop in poverty in northern Nigeria state

Poverty rate in over 17,000 households in communities that participated in the Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in Borno State (PROSAB) project dropped by an average of 14 per cent, a conference of international donors and experts working on poverty reduction in Nigeria has heard.

“Besides, food security in the communities, which had over 100, 0000 farmers participating in the project, rose by 17 per cent,” says Dr. David Watson, Director of IITA's Project Development and Management, at the close of the project in Abuja on Thursday.

“The project has been successful because farmers benefited in terms of improved crop yield, incomes, livelihoods and health. More importantly, the knock-on effect on other farmers in the region has been tremendous.”

Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the five-year project was managed and implemented by IITA with partners including the International Livestock Research Institute, Borno State Agricultural Development Programme, CRED, Institute of Agricultural Research - Zaria, and the University of Maiduguri.

Researchers introduced improved crop varieties, trained farmers on improved agronomic practices and above all promoted gender equality, especially empowerment of women in agricultural development.

Donors and policy makers who attended the conference, which also marked the closing of the project, in Abuja commended IITA and partners for the effective implementation of the project with the Food and Agriculture Organisation calling on states in the geographic zone to tap the approach used by IITA to develop their communities and eradicate poverty.

“The technologies are here. So I strongly encourage states in that ecological zone to pick up these technologies and develop their communities,” says Dr. Rabe Mani, Assistant FAO Representative in Nigeria.

Located in the north eastern zone, Borno State is predominantly Islamic with social interactions between men and women largely restricted by cultural norms.

Apart from reducing poverty in households from 63 per cent to 49 per cent, the project had a breakthrough in increase in the number of women participation in the project, say Drs.Amare Tegbaru and Alpha Kamara, IITA scientists that worked on the project.

Tegbaru and Kamara say resource-poor farmers in the project had about 81 per cent increase in their incomes over the past five years mainly as a result of improved yields and better access to farm inputs.

Mrs. Ndirwa, one of the farmers who shared her experience in the project said the project raised her incomes with yield in cowpea and maize almost tripled.

She testified that apart from her, other farmers also had impressive yield during the span of the project.