The National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) has advised farmers to choose and multiply right variety crops to mitigate climate change.
The Acting Director of the centre, Dr Anthony Okere, said this on the sidelines of the Farmers Field Day/Seed Diversity Fair held at Bagauda in Bebeji Local Government Area of Kano State on Saturday, December 23, 2023.
Represented by Dr Abisoye Ojo, the deputy director of the center, Okere said the project was supported by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, intended to mitigate the effects of climate change in Nigeria.
He said the programme was a component of user engagement activities within the framework of the Seed for Resilience (S4R) project being implemented in Oyo, Niger and Kano States.
According to him, about 150 sample of indigenous and unique accessions of sorghum and cowpea seeds have been planted to acclerate climate change mitigation.
Okere said the Technical Working Group and NACGRAB would continue to support and guide the farmers in selecting the right variety crops for cultivation.
He said the Germ Plasm Users Group (GUG) for sorghum and cowpea as well as other crops with relevance to climate change would guide farmers in selecting the right variety for cultivation.
Earlier, the Chief Scientific Officer, NACGRAB, Dr Muyiwa Olubiyi, stressed the importance of crop conservation.
According to Olubiyi, it will enable researchers to access different indigenous crop samples in the gene bank for breeding.
He said the farmers were expected to select the best among the accessions of sorghum and cowpea based on their desirable traits such as earliness, seed colour, panicle size and seed yield etc.
In their separate remarks, Prof. Sunusi Gaya and Dr Ignitious Anagarawai pledged effective farmer support services to guide them in selecting the right variety for cultivation.
Gaya and Anagarawai are members of the Technical Working Group of the project.
While advising the farmers to change their traditional mindset by adopting NACGRAB climate resilient seeds, they advocated for knowledge sharing with farmer groups to encourage productivity and mitigate effects of climate change.
Some of the farmers, who spoke at the event commended the gesture, and promised to share the knowledge with other farmers.
By Muhammad Nur Tijani
