By Ahmad Tijjani Abdul
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday announced financial support to Nigerians partners for the production of pest resistant Cowpea seeds.
Lawrence Kent, Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told newsmen on the sidelines of ongoing workshops on cowpeas production in Nigeria that they are in Kano to support the pest resistance cowpea project.
Kent explained that the effort being led by the Nigerian government working with the African Agricultural Technology was designed to boost high yield production in Nigeria.
He said “This is to bring the new improved insect resistant cowpea to Nigeria in collaboration with Institute of Agricultural research and other projects has led to the development of improved cowpea variety that is resistant to pests.
“As a result, farmers who planted this cowpea will be able to achieve high yield with less dependence on pesticides because the product itself is insect resistant.
“So we at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are proud to provide some financial support to the partners here in Nigeria who are now working to reproduce the seeds, both the foundation seed and the breeder seed, but most importantly the certified seed that is produced by eleven different Nigerian seed companies.
“We are supporting them to produce the quality seeds and make it available to the Nigerian farmers so they can improve their yields and reduce dependence on pesticides and improve their livelihoods.
In a speech at the event, the Kano state Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Danjuma Mahmud, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Sadi Ibrahim, said the state is ready to embrace the outcome of the workshop.
He stressed that “It is a welcome development that this workshop is taking place here in Kano because it is an agrarian state. So anything that has to do with agriculture we are part and parcel of it.