The Institute of Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research (IFSERAR), has won the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP-Nigeria) grant, in addition to receiving a research license from the European Meteorological Satellite (EUMETSAT), Darmstadt, Germany, that will make it possible to easily download and use environmental and near real-time weather data for research in early warning system in agriculture.
The value of the WAAPP-Nigeria grant is Forty-Seven Million, Five Hundred and Thirty-Eight Thousand, Two Hundred and Forty-Three Naira (₦47,538,243:00) and is meant for collaborative activities in the Multiplication of Cassava Tuber Cuttings for Farmers Across South-Western Nigeria, Seed Multiplication for Maize and Cassava Farmers Across South-Western Nigeria, Fingerlings Multiplication and Broodstock Production, Optimisation of Shika Brown Parent Stock for Sustainable Food Security and Empowerment in Nigeria and Technology Dissemination.
The Technology Dissemination aspect of the project is expected to be jointly implemented with the University’s Agricultural Media Resources and Extension Centre (AMREC), using the Adopted Village Concept.
The EUMETSAT Research Project License will lapse in September, 2016. It is the last component of the early warning system developed by IFSERAR, to help farming communities prepare against impending disaster that could adversely affect agricultural production and food security in Nigeria. The early warning system project is one of the funded proposals under the 2012/2013 FUNAAB/TETFund Research grants.
According to the Project’s Principal Investigator; Dr John Oyedepo, a ground-receiving station had already been constructed in IFSERAR and the license was the only thing left for the completion of the project. He added that when in full operation, the system will be the second of its type in Africa, coming after the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), built under the United Nations Development Project, to combat drought and famine in Ethiopia.
Dr Oyedepo further disclosed that the issuance of the license will position FUNAAB at the front-burner of the campaign for food security through the provision of timely warning mechanism on the imminent agricultural disasters that could arise from extreme weather situations in West and Central Africa, as well as reduce to the barest minimum, negative weather influence on agriculture.