Agric committee releases seven new crop varieties to farmers

The National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Varieties has approved the release of seven new varieties of high yielding crops to Nigerian farmers.

The seven crop varieties released are – one Pearl millet (LCICMV-4), one Maize (Summaz 40), three rice varieties (UPIA 1, UPIA 2 and UPIA 3), and two groundnut varieties (SAMNUT 25 and SAMNUT 26).

The crops were released in Ibadan at the committee’s secretarial, National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB) by the chairman of National Varieties Release Committee (NVRC), Oladosu Awoyemi at the 19th meeting of the committee.

But addressing participants made up mostly of agricultural scientists, Olusoji Olufajo, chairman, Technical Sub-Committee (TSC) on Crops, explained that the seven varieties were approved out of a total of 10 crop varieties submitted to his sub-committee for approval.

While giving details, he said the pearl millet was recommended for release based on extra – early maturity, stay green quality and high ash content.

Olufajo, a professor, said the maize was recommended based on high yield potential, tolerance to drought and the pest “striga hermonthica,” and resistance to lodging.

According to him, the rice variety UPIA 1 was recommended for release based on early maturity, high yield, long slender grains as well as tolerance to iron toxicity and African rice gall midge.

The variety UPIA 2 was recommended for release based on high yield, long slender grains, tolerance to iron toxicity and African rice gall midge.

He also pointed out, that the variety UPIA 3 was recommended for release based on early maturity, high yield, long slender grains and tolerance to iron toxicity.

On the groundnuts, Olufajo said the two varieties SAMNUT 25 and SAMNUT 26 were recommended for release based on high resistance to rosette, moderate resistance to aphids, high yield and early maturity, saying the pearl millet was developed by the Lake Chad Research Institute and International Crops Research Institute for Semi – Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Niamey, Niger Republic.

The two maize varieties, he further disclosed, were from the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan.

The chairman of the Technical Sub-Committee on Crops said the two groundnut varieties were developed by IAR and ICRISAT, however, saying the committee frowned at the persistent late submission of materials by most breeders, as it was agreed therefore that materials submitted after the deadline would no longer be accepted but pushed to the next TSC meeting.

He urged co-ordinators to know that any observed corrections on the existing catalogue of registered and released crop varieties should be communicated formally to the secretariat on or before December 31.

The TSC appreciated the support of West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme towards successful hosting of the meeting.

He therefore urged breeders to plan ahead and send written invitation to the secretariat at least four weeks earlier, stressing this was to ensure for monitoring of their on-farm trials so as to ensure proper preparation by the monitoring team and other stakeholders.

By: Remi Feyisipo