Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project MSU Scholars Programme

  Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project Highlights February 2020 Scholar Program 70 The NAPP Scholars with the Vice Chancellor, IBB University, the Commissioner for Tertiary, the Registrar, Deputy Vice Chancellor IBBU and other members of the School Management. One of the three principal objectives of the Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project (NAPP) is strengthening Nigerian capacity for greater evidence-based policy processes in agriculture. The focus is on increasing the ability of Nigerian analysts to undertake and broadly disseminate relevant evidence-based policy analysis. To do so, it is essential for researchers to acquire the skills to perform vigorous data analysis. To this end, a training on agricultural data analysis using R statistical software was organized for university lecturers by NAPP from Monday 17th to 21st of February 2020. Who better to train than those mandated to teach young researchers the necessary skills for empirical analysis?   R is an open source (fre...

  Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project Highlights November 2019 Scholar Program 63 The visit to the State House Office Building, Lansing, Michigan State to observe proceedings of the House of Representative Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 was an eye opener. The Agriculture Committee is a standing committee of the Michigan House of Representative, made up of 17 members, with over 50% females. The Committee has among other responsibilities the mandate to deliberate on State House legislations and State Senate Agricultural sector related bills, involving appropriation. Request for us to participate in the proceedings with observer status was made prior to the date and granted. Preparatory Legislative activities before the session started were orderly and cordial, with minimal bureaucracy and security checks. Notice of the meeting was circulated through the media, including internet sources. The Agenda was distributed to interested members of the public outside t...

Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project Highlights April 2019 Scholar Program 41 Coming to Michigan State University for the first time as visiting scholars, we deplaned late on January 3 rd 2019. The following morning, January 4th, was our first day at MSU. First thing in the morning we were picked up and whisked away to Morrill Hall of Agricultural to meet the “NAPP team”: Saweda Liverpool-Tasie, Oyinkan Tasie and Steve Longabaugh. We were warmly welcomed and given a short orientation course. After the orientation, we eagerly attacked our tasks for the day. Our first port of call was the Hannah Administration building. Here was where I met John Alfred Hannah, the building’s namesake. We learned about this great man and how our MSU adventure related to his vision. It was Hannah’s initiative that started transforming MSU from a Michigan focused undergraduate college (Michigan State College) into a national and internationally research institution (Michigan State University). He opened MSU’...

Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy:  Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project March 2019 Blessing Iveren Agada Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State A maize field. Source: Author Soil health is critical for increased crop productivity in Nigeria. Thus, managing your resources very well will help in improving your crop yield now and in the future The productivity of soils in Nigeria, as in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa is very low. This is coupled with increasing high temperatures, soil variability and rainfall variability in intensity and amount. How the soil in your field is managed and the way the amount of chemical fertilizer and organic materials (manure, compost, residues etc.) are used will depend on several factors and cannot be the same for all farmers. Also, it is not enough to just use chemical fertilizer alone if you want to get a good yield   Maize production Because the soil in your field is different from one place to another...

  Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project & Alliance for African Partnership Nuwanba 2018               Me ake Nufi da Dumamar Yanayi? Dumamar yanayin Duniya wani sauyin yanayi ne da ake shiga a wani lokaci da ke haifar da karancin ruwan sama da bazara mai nisa, wanda kuma yake haifar da yanayin zafi. Ko da yake ba a nan take ake la’akari da dukkanin sauyin yanayin da ke faruwa ba, amma kuma sai bayan lokaci mai tsawo ne za’a fuskanci illar da sauyin yanayin   Wacce Illa Dumamar Yanayi Yake yi wa Gonakin Masu Kiwon Kaji? Dumamar yanayi dai za’a iya danganta shi ne da karuwar zaf iga kajin da ake kiwo a gonaki. Wannan na nufin tsananin zafi fiye da wanda aka saba gani a lokuta mabanbanta. Tun kaji kan rage cin abinci a lokutan zafi, ka ga wannan zai shafi abin da ake sa ran samu daga kajin da ake kiwo kenan; zai shafi girmansu, zai shafi yawan tsoka da kwai da za’a samu da kuma yawan...

                                             F eed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project & Alliance for African Partnership November 2018         Source: Authors   What is climate change? Climate change is the long-term change of seasonal weather patterns. It is seen through higher temperatures, high variability and erratic rainfall, changing seasonal trends and more frequent extreme climatic events. Not all the changes are noticeable from day to day or season to season. However, over long periods of time they have impacts on your farms and activities.   What are the effects of climate change on poultry farms? Climate change means more heat stress for poultry. Heat stress is an above normal seasonal temperature increase or a confrontation with several very hot days. S...