Dr. Dashiell Kenton is Deputy Director-General, Partnerships for Delivery, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. In this interview with Abiola Odutola, he spoke on hurdles of farmers and new technologies to boost food security in the country. Excerpts:
Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava, maize and yam but it imports some of these produce. How did we get here and way forward?
As at 1983, Nigeria used to export a lot of groundnut to Europe. But when oil came, it stopped. Priority of where investors and government put their money has a big impact. So we have reached the bottom. I think we are on the way up now in improving agriculture and reducing our reliance on oil. Things are improving.
How could this be sustained?
It all depends on the consistency of government’s policies because investors need to be assured of the future of where they are investing their money. If government’s policies help to promote agriculture, then businesses can thrive. But if government changes policies, then all the development will collapse. That is very important. Nigeria has the weather, soil and the technologies are available, not only to IITA, but in many other organisations.
But a lot of farmers complain of lack of access to updated technology as they claimed it is a bane to the growth of the sector…(cuts in)
Most of the agricultural institutes in Nigeria have strong capable staff, but most of them don’t have the budget that helps them do their job. As a scientist, I feel sad when I see very capable professors and scientists not having the opportunities to do good work. The opportunity to produce some of what we import are here, and the problem is not technology, they are available. The problem is change in government policies. The problem is more related to the history, and how do we reverse that? I think the government is on the right track-changing government policies, encouraging practical work.
Do you think the goal of Nigerian Zero Hunger Forum to end hunger by 2030 is feasible?
Yes, if supported by other states government. I challenge governors of five pilot states currently driving the Nigerian Zero Hunger Forum, NZHF, and others to commit themselves to the realisation of set objectives. Aside from Benue, Borno, Ebonyi, Ogun and Sokoto states, I urge others to subscribe to the initiative to enable them monitor the implementation of their home-grown agricultural plans with a view to ending hunger by 2030.
Diseases and pets still ravage farm produce. What is IITA doing to address the menace that has eaten deep into the profit of Nigerian farmers?
It is very devastating. It just came and the scientists just have to figure it out. Now there are good controls for the army worms, but it’s insecticide – getting the right specification, preparing it right and in the right place. Basically, these insects eat right in the middle of the maize; so you have to have the right chemical. I think the farmers have to spray right down across the wall of the maize plant, and it will be good, and it’s better to do that late in the evening.
Nigeria spends over $1 billion annually, to import tomato paste as local produce are not suitable for the purpose. What can be done to address the issue?
It takes hard work and patience to really get it to work. Farmers can grow the tomatoes as there is enough irrigated land around the different projects in Nigeria where tomatoes can be grown all year round for the companies that manufacture the paste but it’s not just going to happen overnight.
What does it require to do that?
There probably needs to be some type of government policy that helps the local companies compete with the importers because the importer companies will do everything possible to hold the key to their market. This is business, and they want to keep their business in Nigeria.
How does your Triple Bagging System tackle issues of pesticide in beans in the country?
The Triple Bagging System is a bag that you put your beans in and keep it there for just a year without applying pesticides.
But are the bags treated?
They are not treated but tighten the air. There is no air at all inside the bag, and insects cannot survive once there is no air inside. But if you use this triple bag, there are three polythenes; you tie the first one, and then the second and the third, so there is no air inside. Any insect inside dies immediately, and you can keep your beans safe.
What is the feedback you get from farmers?
People are not really aware of the initiative but we are working on creating awareness. The last time the bag was sold, it was N300 per bag and that’s 50kg against jute bags, which sell for around N150 to N200 a bag. With that, you can actually preserve your seeds.
In view of your huge investments in cassava, what was the contribution of IITA in the discovery of cassava bread?
Basically, if you look at cassava bread, for instance, there was someone that came to IITA, and he told me that anytime he eats bread, he has problem of constipation for at least one week; he doesn’t use the toilet. He came to IITA, and there we served him cassava bread, and he ate it and he had no constipation. So he came to me and asked me: what is happening, what is this kind of bread that I ate and I had no constipation? It was cassava bread. Cassava bread is an excellent product that we should consume, and it is friendlier to people with diabetes than people who eat wheat bread because it has a lower glycaemic index and that is proven.
With your mandate to improve durability of your select crops, how would you rate your performance in the last three years?
A lot has happened but if you can imagine that if there were no IITA what would have happened to Nigeria? Things would have been terrible. We wouldn’t have had the improved variety of cassava that we have today; we wouldn’t have had the maize varieties that we have had today, and we wouldn’t have had even the cassava processing machine. In Benue, for instance, in the last 57 years of Nigeria as an independent country, we don’t have a single machine that we can use to extract orange juice. In Benue, the farmers allow the oranges to ripe, drop on the ground to decay and to become fertiliser for the tree and that continues; the same thing with mangoes. IITA in its contribution, is working on cassava; we brought in a lot of processing machines into Nigeria. Our local fabricators learned from these machines, and today, we can see several machines that people are using at local levels to grate their garri, dry the garri and all that. But look at orange, the oranges that we love so much, just because no institution has thought of even bringing pictures for us to see and then thinking of doing it, we still don’t have a processing factory for orange juice and people say this is not rocket science.
