IAR Trains Communities on Commercial Agriculture

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ABU Zaria

By; SANI ALIYU, Zaria

As part of its corporate responsibility, the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has trained women and youths from the immediate environment on commercial agriculture and value addition to food crops in the year under review.

Professor I.U. Abubakar, Director of the Institute stated that at the annual research review and planning meeting held at the institute.

 He said, IAR has donated a maize thresher to its neighboring Bomo community to reduce drudgery of post harvest processing and losses, which identify its little way are giving back to society the benefits of their research innovations and service to humanity.

The Director also said, as part of their efforts to stimulate uptake and adoption of technologies generated by the Institute which extended its Agricultural Research Outreach Centres (AROCs) to nereby communities with three adopted schools, G.G.S.S. Samaru, G.S.S Bomo and G.S.S. Hunkuyi as well as three adopted villages at Jaja, Tudun Muntsira and Dutsen Abba were institute technologies are being demonstrated to farmers and students.

“Some of the technologies taken to three centres with outstanding results are; SAMSORG 17 and 43, SAMMAZ 11, 17 and 24, SAMPEA 7 and 8 and SAMNUT 24, IAR will be expanding the adoption village centres to other northwest states”.

  Professor Abubakar said, it is heartwarming to note that farmers are enthusiastic about the technologies taken to them, given the high yields from the varieties obtained from the demonstration plots.

   Similarly, the interest of students from the schools has been greatly aroused to practice agriculture not just as a subject but as a profession and this further encourage the enrolment of more youths in the Faculty of Agriculture.

  According to the Director, the Institute product development programmme has continued to add value to their mandate crops by processing and making confectionaries from composite flours of sorghum, maize, cowpea and beverages from the calyx of Roselle with high nutritional content and value.

“Significant progress has been made in protocol development for in-vitro micro-propagation of sugarcane and transgenic development of maruca resistant cowpea through the use of biotechnology and significant was made during the year in the development of sorghum variety bio-fortified with vitamin A’.

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