The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) stated that Nigerian farmers will get Pod Borer resistant Maruca (PBR) pea beans during the 2021 planting season.
NABDA Director-General/CEO Professor Abdullahi Mustapha made this known in Abuja when he presented the award to journalists who won the 4th Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Africa Media Awards 2020 at the continental level.
Mustafa said that PBR pea beans will be provided to Nigerian farmers during this year’s planting season to increase the country’s cow bean production.
Recall that the federal government approved the commercialization of a biotech cow bean variety that is resistant to pod borers in December 2019.
This development places Nigeria as the first country to commercialise genetically improved cowpea.
The PBR pea project is a public-private partnership that is developing and disseminating cow beans that are resistant to Maruca Pod Borer to increase productivity.
A project partnership that brings together leading African and international institutions by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The project is being implemented in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria and Malawi.
Stakeholders in the field of biotechnology stated that PBR pea beans will increase cow bean production by controlling Maruca Pod Borer because it will increase yields, bring higher incomes to farmers, and improve the use of harmful chemicals to control pests. Their health.
Mustapha therefore tasked journalists to be in the vanguard in the dissemination of accurate information to the farmers.
He called on science journalists to avoid fake news, focus on factual reportage of issues that promote the deployment of technology in agricultural development to guarantee food security in Nigeria.
According to him, “It is the duty of the media to monitor all the stages and channels through which the PBR Cowpea seads reach the farmers to ensure that there is no compromise or sharp practices that will deny farmers of maximum benefit the technology offers.”
Also speaking, Country Coordinator of OFAB, Nigerian Chapter, Dr. Rose Gidado, commended Nigerian journalists who participated in the competition for winning awards at the Continental level.
Gidado underscored the need for science journalists to make their simple and easy to be understood by readers or audience, urging them to always include human angle in their reportage.
