NAN-AE-11
Groundnut
By Tukur Muntari
Kiyawa (Jigawa State) The Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in collaboration with the International Crops Research Institutes for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), has developed a groundnut seed variety, “Samnut 24’’.
Prof. Sani Ahmed-Miko, Country Director, Sasakawa Global 2000, disclosed this on Wednesday, while briefing newsmen at one of the community demonstration farms at Masanawa village in Kiyawa Local Government Area of Jigawa.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Sasakawa Global 2000 team was in the area to assess the performance of groundnut farmers who were exposed to the production technology introduced by the organisation.
Ahmed-Miko said: “The improved local variety, `Samnut 24’, matures between 80 and 90 days and it is drought-resistant. It was developed by IAR, Zaria, and ICRISAT.’’
According to him, the new groundnut variety has a high-yielding potential and high-oil content that is better than the local variety.
He also said that the “Samnut 24’’ groundnut seed was resistant to diseases, while improving soil fertility.
Ahmed-Miko said that Sasakawa Global 2000 decided to select Jigawa for the mass production of the new variety because because of the concentration of groundnut farmers in the state.
“We want farmers to adopt the improved technology for the production of groundnut, in view of the fact that it is better than the indigenous variety in all respects.
“In some places, farmers plant this variety twice in a year during the wet season and animals prefer its fodder,” he said.
Ahmed-Miko urged groundnut farmers in state to make the best use of the opportunity by engaging in large-scale production of the new variety to facilitate its sustainable distribution to other farmers in the area.
Besides, the country director pledged to provide women farmers in Masanawa village with sprayers to assuage the hardships they faced in spraying pesticides on their crops.
On the farmers’ request for an oil extractor, Ahmed-Miko said that his agency would conduct a survey in the area to ascertain if the number of groundnut producers was actually enough for the proposed project.
NAN reports that the team also visited two community demonstration farms and model adoption plots in Kudai village, Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa. (NAN).
MTM/OOK
========