• Home
  • Agric
  • Sci, Tech & Innovation
  • Health
  • Environ/Climate Change
  • More
    • Business/Banking & Finance
    • Politics/Elections
    • Entertainments & Sports
    • International
    • Investigation
    • Law & Human Rights
    • Africa/AU/ECOWAS
    • Research and Development
    • Corruption/EFCC/ICPC
    • Hassan Gimba
    • Column
    • Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Prof. M.K. Othman
    • Defense/Security
    • Education/JAMB/WAEC/NECO/NABTEB
    • Energy/Electricity
    • Entertainment/Arts & Sports
    • Society and Lifestyle
    • Food & Agriculture
    • Health & Healthy Living
    • Technology
    • International News
    • Interviews
    • Fact-check/Investigation
    • Judiciary/Legislature/Law & Human Rights
    • Oil & Gas/Mineral Resources
    • Media/PR/Journalism
    • Elections
    • General News
    • Presidency
    • Press Releases
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Board Of Advisory
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ethics Policy
    • Teamwork And Collaboration Policy
    • Fact-Checking Policy
  • Advertising
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • We are using community-led approach to maternal health, HIV prevention – Institute 
  • FG pledges to combat NCDs, HIV in Nigeria
  • NJC recommends appointment of 11 Supreme Court Justices [SEE NAMES]
  • Fadama CARES programme trains, disburses grants to 4,233 FCT farmers 
  • Africa highly vulnerable to commodity price volatility – Adesina
  • Commission partners farm holdings to boost food security
  • HIV/AIDS screening: Sokoto agency urges communities to support law
  • Foundation, UNFPA empower 50 VVF survivors in Adamawa
Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
AsheNewsAsheNews
  • Home
  • Agric
  • Sci, Tech & Innovation
  • Health
  • Environ/Climate Change
  • More
    • Business/Banking & Finance
    • Politics/Elections
    • Entertainments & Sports
    • International
    • Investigation
    • Law & Human Rights
    • Africa/AU/ECOWAS
    • Research and Development
    • Corruption/EFCC/ICPC
    • Hassan Gimba
    • Column
    • Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Prof. M.K. Othman
    • Defense/Security
    • Education/JAMB/WAEC/NECO/NABTEB
    • Energy/Electricity
    • Entertainment/Arts & Sports
    • Society and Lifestyle
    • Food & Agriculture
    • Health & Healthy Living
    • Technology
    • International News
    • Interviews
    • Fact-check/Investigation
    • Judiciary/Legislature/Law & Human Rights
    • Oil & Gas/Mineral Resources
    • Media/PR/Journalism
    • Elections
    • General News
    • Presidency
    • Press Releases
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Board Of Advisory
    • Privacy Policy
    • Ethics Policy
    • Teamwork And Collaboration Policy
    • Fact-Checking Policy
  • Advertising
AsheNewsAsheNews
Home»Food & Agriculture»PRESS RELEASE: 50th Anniversary: IITA Inaugurates 205.5ha Research Farm
Food & Agriculture

PRESS RELEASE: 50th Anniversary: IITA Inaugurates 205.5ha Research Farm

Abdallah el-KurebeBy Abdallah el-KurebeJune 13, 2017No Comments4 Mins Read
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

The Ago Owu research station is located in Ayedade Local Government Area, Osun state, and will primarily serve as a research and training facility that will backstop the state’s agricultural programs and offer training support to the youth

OSHOGBO, Nigeria, June 12, 2017/ — As the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) (www.IITA.org) marks its 50th anniversary, the Institute today inaugurated a new research station in Ago-Owu in Osun state, Nigeria, as part of efforts to expand its research agenda and create impact at farm level.

The Ago-Owu research station is located in Ayedade Local Government Area, Osun state, and will primarily serve as a research and training facility that will backstop the state’s agricultural programs and offer training support to the youth in the area in particular and Nigeria in general.

In 2015, Governor Rauf Aregbesola donated a piece of land measuring about 205.5 hectares to IITA as he sought to bring research closer to the people of the state with a view to creating transformational change in the agricultural sector of the state. IITA accepted the offer with the signing of a memorandum of understanding and began investment on the land with the development of roads and other infrastructure.

Governor Aregbesola said he was glad the MoU with IITA moved beyond paper to implementation. He commended IITA for its research efforts in the last 50 years, adding that the research facility will advance research in Osun state with a spinoff effect on other parts of the country.

“We believe that this research facility will train and empower our youth in modern agriculture,” he said.

The inauguration of the research facility also allowed researchers to make presentations on new findings from cassava weed management, breeding, banana breeding and multiplication, cassava processing, and aflasafe—a technology for controlling aflatoxins among others. There was a presentation of improved seeds of maize, cowpea, soybean, yam, plantain seedlings, and cassava stems for onward distribution to farmers in Osun state. IITA also gave the governor some quantities of Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags which provide simple, low-cost method of reducing post-harvest cowpea losses due to insects’ infestations.

The Director General, IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga said, IITA was happy to work with and in Osun state.

“This research facility is part of our strategy to take research closer to the people. Our plan is to make this station a one-stop shop where farmers’ needs will be addressed,” he said.

Under the refreshed IITA strategy, IITA plans to lift 11 million people out of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020 and to reclaim 7.5 million hectares of degraded land and put the land into sustainable use. Achieving this goal entails IITA expanding its partnership scope and strengthening old partnerships.

Dr Sanginga said the Ago-Owu research facility would primarily conduct research on cassava, maize, yam, soybean, banana/plantain and cowpea. “We will also be using the facility to train Nigerian youths in agribusiness,” he added.

The inauguration of Ago-Owo research station brings to six the number of such facilities in Nigeria. Others are located in Onne (Rivers State), Abuja, Mokwa (Niger state), Minjibir (Kano), and Ikene (Ogun State).

Dr Alfred Dixon, Director for Development and Delivery, IITA, said the inauguration of the research facility was a step in the right direction with the potential of bringing many benefits to the people of the state in particular, and the country in general.

He said the research facility would assist the state in accelerating its agricultural reform agenda whose particular focus is on increasing agricultural productivity and job creation.

Established in 1967, IITA is an international agricultural research institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, IITA improves livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. The Institute operates in Nigeria and 13 research stations/hubs across sub-Saharan Africa.

Distributed by APO on behalf of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email
Abdallah el-Kurebe
  • Website
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Related Posts

Fadama CARES programme trains, disburses grants to 4,233 FCT farmers 

December 6, 2023

Commission partners farm holdings to boost food security

December 6, 2023

[VIEWPOINT] Agriculture: Is Nigeria’s Core North in Distress? By Aminu Binji

December 6, 2023

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

We are using community-led approach to maternal health, HIV prevention – Institute 

December 6, 2023

FG pledges to combat NCDs, HIV in Nigeria

December 6, 2023

NJC recommends appointment of 11 Supreme Court Justices [SEE NAMES]

December 6, 2023

Fadama CARES programme trains, disburses grants to 4,233 FCT farmers 

December 6, 2023
About Us
About Us

ASHENEWS (AsheNewsDaily.com), published by PenPlus Online Media Publishers, is an independent online newspaper. We report development news, especially on Agriculture, Science, Health and Environment as they affect the under-reported rural and urban poor.

We also conduct investigations, especially in the areas of ASHE, as well as other general interests, including corruption, human rights, illicit financial flows, and politics.

Contact Info:
  • 1st floor, Dogon Daji House, No. 5, Maiduguri Road, Sokoto
  • +234(0)7031140009
  • ashenewsdaily@gmail.com
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
© 2023 All Rights Reserved. ASHE NEWS Daily Designed by DeedsTech

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.