Monthly Archives - May 2020

Extension agents working under the Justice Development and Peace Movement (JDPM), Oyo and the University of Agriculture Makurdi have concluded plans to resume training activities previously halted by the COVID-19 lockdown across the country under a cautious regime. The training activities will adhere strictly to the rules on physical distancing set by the country on COVID 19, coordinators from JPDM and UAM have said.

Kolping Society of Nigeria is the new addition to the ACAI project list of partners that will be instrumental in scaling the use of the AKILIMO decision support tools. Kolping Society of Nigeria is a faith-based organization that promotes social action for human development. The organization will integrate AKILIMO tools content as part of their training materials for farmers growing cassava within their membership location.

A collaboration between ACAI partners and the local government authorities in Tanzania has ensured a continuation of stakeholder trainings and farmer sensitization during the coronavirus pandemic. Kilimo Joint a capacity building and agricultural consulting enterprise and eSOKO an agricultural digital solutions company and an ACAI primary partner have teamed with government officials of Mkuranga District in the Eastern Zone of Tanzania to conduct training for selected new project partners and farmers on the use of fertilizer in growing cassava as recommended by the AKILIMO decision support tools.

ACAI project is partnering with eSOKO, a digital solutions company operating in the agricultural sector, to collect data on cassava farmers in Tanzania and profile them in order to develop and provide them with tailored information. eSOKO is an agricultural profiling and messaging service provider that empower rural populations and the organizations that work with them through information dissemination across sub-Saharan Africa.

African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) has started interacting with partners and farmers virtually in Tanzania because of covid-19. The project has taken steps to minimize the exposure to infection for both staff, partners and farmers. This is in respect to the guidelines by health officials in the country to avoid unnecessary contact and to keep a safe distance.

One of the ACAI project primary partners, Oyo State Cassava Growers Association (OYSCGA), has been forced to change their operational procedures to keep farm activities going despite on-going COVID – 19 pandemic. Some of the steps taken by OYSCGA includes

The Digital Extension & Advisory Services Specialist, Godwin Atser has been appointed by the Oyo State government as a member of the Oyo State COVID-19 Food Security Emergency Task Force. This follows the nomination of Godwin by IITA. In this

As part of its monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) system, the ACAI project has developed and piloted a survey tool called “use and uptake” tool. This tool will be used to monitor the extent to which targeted end-users adopt and

Two ACAI project partners in Tanzania, YARA Fertilizers and
Kilimo Joint have struck a collaboration that will see them engage secondary
partners to scale and disseminate AKILIMO agronomy advice tools in the country.

The partnership has been developed after months of
discussion between representatives of the institutions and ACAI team consisting
of Fredrick Baijukya, ACAI project coordinator for Tanzania and Thompson
Ogunsanmi, the project scaling specialist.

Psaltry International Limited (PIL) commences reviewing its operational plans to in order to integrate the use of AKILIMO agronomy advice tools. PIL, a primary partner in the ACAI project has been part of the AKILIMO research and development process since the inception of the project in 2016.