More farm households adopt improved cassava varieties

Findings by the Cassava Monitoring Survey (CMS) have shown that over 60 per cent of farm households have adopted improved cassava varieties in the country.

This was revealed at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Abia State, by the Tanzania-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Director, Dr. Victor Manyong, on behalf of two other members of the Study team-Dr. Tahirou Abdoulaye  (a senior Economist at IITA), and Dr. Godwin Asumugha (Agricultural Economist and Director, Farming Systems Research and Extension, at NRCRI).

According to Asumugha, the three Scientists (Manyong, Abdoulaye and Asumugha) will be organising the sharing session on the findings to the NRCRI community, comprising Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Abia State University, Abia State ADP and Agriculture Ministry.

Funding of the CMS, with the target of documenting the extent of adoption of improved cassava varieties with rigorous sampling and DNA based identification of improved varieties, came from the CGIAR Research Programme on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), through the CMS project at IITA Ibadan

“It was designed to assess the adoption of improved cassava cultivars and reveal the drivers of adoption and misadoption in Nigeria, the largest producer of cassava in the world.”

Speaking after the presentation, Manyong said that CMS found that the adoption of improved cassava varieties at a poverty line of $1.25 per capita had moved 1.8 million Nigerians above the poverty line, adding however, that a lot still ought to be done to assist cassava farmers, hence about 70 per cent of them relied on social networks for planting materials.

According to Manyong, the CMS was a cross-sectional survey and recommended that the survey be done every five years to monitor changes including the need for a well functioning seed system that would encourage the multiplication and distribution of certified seeds