The African Development Bank, AfDB-funded Support for Agricultural Research and Development of Strategic Crops, SARD-SC will boost agricultural production by 20 per cent in Nigeria and other 19 African countries. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA said in a statement that SARD-SC project would increase production of maize, cassava, wheat, and rice by 20 per cent in 20 selected countries in the continent. The statement issued by the IITA’s Communication Officer (West and Central Africa), Mr. Godwin Atser, listed the countries, as Nigeria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It noted that efforts to transform agriculture on the African continent received a boost when researchers under the SARD-SC project met on July 15, at the 6th African Agricultural Science Week in Accra, Ghana to draw more support from partners into the project. According to the statement, SARD-SC, funded by the African Development Bank with 63.24 million dollars, aimed to create knowledge on the tested innovations with farmers in Africa. “The plan is to reduce food importation from other continents and offer farmers better access to markets, improve livelihoods, and tackle poverty through enhanced capacities of beneficiaries to sustainable development in the region. “About a million farmers will directly benefit from the project through its innovations basket, while another million and half will be reached by project spin-off effects’’, it added. The statement noted that the five-year multi-Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, CGIAR centre initiative would run until 2016, adding that it would be co-implemented by three Africa-based CGIAR centres. It listed the centres, as IITA, the Africa Rice Centre, and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the dry areas. According to the statement, SARD-SC’s Project Coordinator, who is from IITA, Dr Chrysantus Akem, said that “narrowing the yield gap is key for African farmers’’, pointing out that the project would also help them to compete globally and to feed themselves.
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