As a part of efforts to promote agriculture and rural development in consonance with global best practices, African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) and its partner Justice Development & Peace Movement (JDPM) visited Soku a small settlement along Oyo-Iseyin road, Oyo West Local Government, to supervise the harvesting of cassava varieties on a demo plot.
JDPM HONORS IITA, ACAI, HARVESTPLUS, AND OUTSTANDING IITA STAFF.
he Justice Development and Peace Movement (JDPM), one of the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) partners in Nigeria recently honored the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), ACAI, Harvest Plus, and two outstanding IITA staff with awards in recognition of many years of fruitful collaboration. A faith-based organization, JDPM works with people at the grassroots in the rural areas of Oyo State, Nigeria to promote sustainable human development and improved livelihoods. Agriculture is one of their main areas of interest as they train farmers to improve their yields and make more profit, subsequently improving their livelihood.
AKILIMO functionality impresses EAS, regional, and district officials in the Kigoma region.
Following the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative’s efforts to promote the use of AKILIMO tools, the ACAI project team has impressed Extension agents (EAs), regional and local government officials in Kigoma region on the AKILIMO functionality and are now awaiting capacity
CEDRO ROYAL TRAINS 400 EBONYI CASSAVA FARMERS ON AKILIMO TOOL
Cedro Royal Multi-ventures, a partner of ACAI/RTB scaling AKILIMO project with headquarters in Abuja trained 400 grassroots cassava farmers on the use of the AKILIMO advisory tool for fertilizer recommendation (FR) and Best Planting Practices and weed management (BPP-WM).
PARTNERS AGREE ON DATA COLLECTION BEYOND ACAI PROJECT
In a bid to facilitate AKILIMO sustainability, partners agreed to continue the collection of data beyond the lifespan of the ACAI project. Remarks from partners during the planning meeting in Nigeria and Tanzania raised optimistic expectations; all partners considered data collection to be an essential component of their sustainability strategy in the use of AKILIMO tools in their operations.
THE PARTNERS SET PLANS FOR AKILIMO SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability planning meetings were held respectively in Nigeria on 30th -31st of March, 2021, and in Tanzania on 22nd – 23rd of April, 2021. The essence of the meetings was to develop plans for continuous use of AKILIMO by ACAI partners and other initiatives beyond June 2022, when the ACAI project comes to an end. The meetings, hosted by IITA’s ACAI project, brought together 39 participants from the two countries (25 participants in Nigeria, 14 participants in Tanzania) cutting across various organizations. The workshop successfully harnessed the experiences and resources of partners, reaching a wide range of agreements on how AKILIMO will be sustained.
AKILIMO NIGERIA AND AKILIMO TANZANIA BRING ACAI PARTNERS TOGETHER
The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) planning meetings which held in Ibadan, Nigeria and Dares Salaam, Tanzania, raised hopes for a bright future for AKILIMO ahead of the end of the ACAI project. The planning meetings brought partners together and one of the highlights was the formation of AKILIMO Nigeria and AKILIMO Tanzania to sustain the use of AKILIMO beyond the life span of ACAI.
AKILIMO PROMOTERS PLAN MOBILIZATION OF FARMERS IN NIGERIA
Promoters of AKILIMO in conjunction with Notore Chemical Industries plan to mobilize at least 30,000 cassava farmers for fertilizer recommendation (FR) tool.
Farmers Recount the Benefits of AKILIMO in Cassava Production
The out grower farmers of Psaltry International Limited (PIL) have started experiencing the positive impact of ACAI’s AKILIMO tool. A number of success stories in relation to the use of AKILIMO tools have emerged. Farmers from Ado Awaye in Iseyin Local Government of Oyo State under the out-grower scheme of Psaltry recounted stories about how their cassava production has drastically improved due to application of the recommendations gotten from AKILIMO on their farms. The farmers were delighted because this has translated to increase in their cassava yields, an experience that they have not previously had.
AKILIMO can be Calibrated for Other Crops Says Pypers
The completed and multi-platform version of the AKILIMO advisory service will be expandable to provide agronomic recommendations for other crops and scalable to other locations across Africa and the rest of the world. This is according to the ACAI project