CDA NEWSLETTER Volume 1 Number 2 June 2013 CENTRE FOR DRYLAND AGRICULTURE BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO CDA, GIMI to Mount Short Course on Water Management and Dryland Agriculture The Centre for Dryland Agricul- problems and possible solu- local organizing committee (LOC) to ture (CDA), Bayero University, in tions handle all the necessary preparations collaboration with the Galilee In- Desertification & land degrada- for the course. Members of the LOC ternational Management Institute tion include: Dr. M. H. Bichi (Chairman), Dr. (GIMI), Nahalal, Israel is organiz- Crop Production & Food Secu- B. M. Giginyu (member), Engr. M. M. ing an International Training rity in drylands Bello (member), and Y. U. Garba (member/secretary). Course on Water Management Sustainable Agriculture in dry- and Dryland Agriculture. The lands; technologies developed course aims to provide partici- by regional R&D Centres to pants with the necessary help farmers knowledge, skills, and under- standing to enable them deal with Rural communities in dryland the pressing challenges of water The course is designed for a management and agricultural minimum of 15 participants and development in arid and semi-arid is planned to commence in Octo- lands in Nigeria. ber 2013 with phase 1 in Nigeria (2 weeks) and the phase 2 in The course deals with the follow- November/December 2013 in ing issues: Israel (2 weeks). The Director of Lettuce Production in Screen house Water resources management; CDA has constituted a four-man CDA Links up with Center for Sustainable Dryland Ecologies and Societies, University of Nairobi The Centre for Dryland Agricul- Nairobi by the Director of CDA, graduate training and networks of ture (CDA) of Bayero University Professor J. M. Jibrin and Dr M. specialization in the Common and the Centre for Sustainable H. Bichi from May 9th to May 12th Market for Eastern and Southern Dryland Ecosystems and Socie- 2013. The visit was facilitated by Africa (COMESA) countries. ties (CSDES) of University of the Regional Universities Forum Nairobi, Kenya plan to collabo- for Capacity Building in Agricul- The University of Nairobi (UoN) rate in carrying out research and ture (RUFORUM), which is a is the largest University in Kenya, development activities in areas of consortium of 30 universities in with seven campuses and a stu- mutual interest. This was the fall Eastern, Central and Southern dent population of about 68,000. out of a visit to the University of Africa, setup in 2004 to oversee (Continued on Page 3) Inside this issue: About CDA CDA gets a Toyota Hilux Utility Vehicle 2 The Centre for Dryland Agriculture (CDA) is one of the newly established academic Centres and Institutes in BUK signs R&D Agreement with ICRISAT 2 Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. The Centre was estab- lished in 2012 with the aim of building human resource CDA Participates in Curriculum Development 3 for United Nations University capacity and generating sustainable agricultural technol- ogies that would increase the productivity of crops and CDA Constitutes Thematic Research Groups 4 livestock in the semi-arid and dry sub-humid environ- ments of Nigeria and the West African sub-region. Page 2 CDA NEWSLETTER CDA Gets Toyota Hilux Utility Vehicle The Centre for Dryland Agricul- The project was executed from ture has received a Toyota Hilux May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2013 in Utility Vehicle. The vehicle was 30 communities across six local donated to Bayero University by government areas of Kano State. the Kano Agricultural and Rural About 20,000 farmers were di- development Authority rectly impacted by the project. (KNARDA) in fulfillment of the agreement entered into by the The project demonstrated and two organizations in 2010. The trained farmers and extension vehicle was bought in 2010 for workers on integrated soil fertility The KNARDA-BUK-AGRA Project Vehicle the implementation of a 3 year management (ISFM) and other research and development yield enhancing technologies (R&D) project titled “Improving through a value chain approach. Productivity of Smallholder Millet The vehicle was formally handed and Sorghum Based Production over to BUK through the Regis- Systems in the Semi-arid Region trar, Alhaji Sani Amin, by Mallam of Northern Nigeria through In- Abdullahi Raba of KNARDA. The creased use of Integrated Soil Registrar observed that the vehi- Fertility Management Options cle was well-maintained and in a and better Access to Markets”. very good condition. The project was sponsored by The vehicle will no doubt greatly the Alliance for Green Revolution facilitate the field research activi- in Africa (AGRA) and jointly exe- ties of CDA and the Faculty of Mansur Dawaki of BUK explaining compost and com- cuted by KNARDA, BUK and the Agriculture. posting to farmers and the Kano State Commissioner International Institute of Tropical for Agriculture, Barrister Baraka Sani, during a field Agriculture (IITA). day at Gabasawa. This was part of the KNARDA-BUK -AGRA Project activities BUK Signs Agreement with ICRISAT Bayero University has signed an Zango LGA, Katsina State In order to ensure a smooth and suc- agreement with the International ii. Conduct biomass assess- cessful execution of the project, the Crops Research Institute for the ment in 2 villages each in Director of CDA has appointed Dr. Bebeji LGA and Zango Shehu Usman Yahaya of the Depart- Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to LGAs ment of Agronomy to coordinate the implement a research and devel- iii. Assist in setting up agricul- implementation of the project. opment project titled “Integrated tural R4D platforms in Bebeji and Sustainable Agricultural Pro- and Zango LGAs duction Systems for Improved iv. Assist in designing and im- Food Security and Livelihoods in plementing on-farm partici- Dry Areas.” The project will be patory ISFM trials in Bebeji and Zango LGAs executed by the Centre for Dry- land Agriculture (CDA). The agreement was signed by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Under the agreement, CDA will: Abubakar A. Rasheed, on behalf of BUK; and the ICRISAT Direc- i. Conduct baseline household tor for West and Central Africa, surveys for characterization Dr. Farid Waliyar, on behalf of of agricultural production ICRISAT. systems in 2 villages each in the DSCRP KKM sites of The budget for the implementa- Bebeji Local Government tion of the project in 2013 is Dr Farid Waliyar (Center) discussing with a team from BUK during a previous visit to the ICRISAT Station at Area (LGA), Kano State and $30,030 (about N 4.5 million). Sadore, Republic of Niger. VOLUME 1 NUMBER 2 Page 3 CDA Participates in Curriculum Development for United Nations University Institute in Maputo, Mozambique The United Nations University workshop in Maputo, from 06 to Institute for Integrated Manage- 08 May 2013. The focus of the ment of Material Fluxes and of workshop was on building a re- Resources (UNU-FLORES), gional network for the twin insti- Dresden, Germany is planning tute and to develop in more de- to set up a twin Institute in Ma- tail the research and teaching puto, Mozambique. The Institute programme of the new Institute. will engage in research, teach- CDA was represented at the ing and capacity development in workshop by Professor A. I. the area of sustainable use and Tanko. integrated management of re- The workshop was organized by sources, focusing in particular UNU-FLORES in cooperation on water, soil and waste. with University Eduardo To this end the Centre for Dry- Mondlane, Maputo. and Dresden land Agriculture (CDA) was invit- University of Technology A cross-section of participants at the Maputo Workshop ed to participate in a regional (Technische Universität Dres- den, TUD), Germany. CDA Links up with CSDES, University of Nairobi (from page 1) During the visit discussions were Union’s aspiration of Africa- PG students held with a team from CSDES led partnerships and the Department of Land Re- RUFORUM is trying to link Joint research proposals sources Management and Agri- East African to West African Sabbatical, visiting and adjunct lec- cultural Technologies (LARMAT) universities and is already tureship programmes for staff at the Kabete campus of the Uni- facilitating the link between versity, to explore possible areas CDA and CSDES Jointly organize short professional of collaboration with CDA. courses targeting specific clients From the discussions it was clear Potential areas of cooperation were determined as follows: At the end of the visit, a draft memoran- that there was strong justification dum of understanding was developed to for CDA and CSDES to collabo- Student exchange pro- be presented to the management of the rate because: grammes. Study tours and two Universities for consideration. Both Nigeria and Kenya have sandwich programmes for vast areas of drylands and share similar challenges in terms of population explo- sion, poverty, and effects of climate change The challenges faced by both countries require trans- disciplinary approaches in tackling them As Universities, both BUK and UoN are in the business of capacity building. Both CSDES and CDA have simi- lar goals and carry out similar activities. Basic infrastructure for col- laboration exists in the two universities; the collaboration will fulfill part of the Africa The Director of CDA, Prof. J. M. Jibrin (second right) and Dr. M. H. Bichi (third right) during one of the discussions at the University of Nairobi Page 4 CDA Constitutes Thematic Research Groups above terms of reference. The Technical Committee of the Centre change and natural resources man- for Dryland Agriculture has constituted agement. Group C: Dryland Range and Live- three trans-disciplinary groups to guide vi. Any other issues incidental to the stock Improvement the research focus of the Centre. The above terms of reference. three groups were constituted along the Prof. B.F. Muhammad (Chairman) thematic research areas of the Centre. Group B: Dryland Crops and Crop- Prof.