The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) says Nigeria will be self-sufficient in maize production by 2028 by adopting Water-Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) TELA maize by farmers across the country.
WEMA TELA Maize Project Manager for AATF, Mr Sylvester Oikeh, said this on the sidelines of an inspection tour of the TELA maize demo farm of the National Agricultural Biotechnology Research Development Agency (NABRDA) in Abuja, carried out by the TELA Maize Governing Council.
He urged Nigerians to embrace TELA maize technology as it was drought and insect-resistant as well as safe for humans and livestock.
Mr Oikeh said that the variety of the product had triple protection against drought, stemborer and fall army-worm.
According to him, by embracing the product, farmers will not need to spray.
The project manager said the technology had come to stay, adding that what was needed was to develop a seed system that would allow more farmers to have access to the seed.
He, however, identified inadequate seed as the biggest challenge currently facing the country.
Mr Oikeh said the organisation, at the moment, had opened 150 hectares to produce seed against 2025.
He said that despite the gesture, the seed would not be sufficient due to high demand.
Oikeh said that in the next three to four years, farmers should be able to have enough food produced locally to meet the seed demand for the product in the country.
“We brought in 51 tonnes of TELA maize this year which farmers are growing mostly for promotion; next year we are hoping to have 400 tonnes.
“In two years, we are planning to have up to 1,200 tons; so, by 2028 we should have 11,000 tons of TELA maize produce in Nigeria
“This is a new technology that requires training of the people; and gradually, as their production is increasing, you decrease importation until we meet local demand.
“Any government that embraces this technology must have the good political will to use the genetically modified technology to address the food security problem.’’
Mr Oikeh commended the government for embracing the product and called for the support of all and sundry to enable more farmers to adopt the technology to address the problem of drought and insects.
He said the TELA maize farm visitation was purposely to evaluate the project on the field with the seed system team.
“The evaluation is to allow them to see the performance of the varieties on farmers’ fields and their concerns so that when they go back to the breeding programme, they can improve on the breed based on the feedback they received.
“It also allows the team to know what the farmers feel and the amount of seeds required so that the team can start preparing the seeds it will bring to the farmers next year,” he added.