Researchers in the Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Ilorin have developed a new breed of maize, named ILOMAZ-1.
Prof. Gbolagade Adesiji, a former Ag. Dean of
the Faculty announced the new development to newsmen in Ilorin on Monday.
Adesiji told reporters that the research
effort that produced the innovation was done in collaboration with the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan.
The don said the grain has been approved for
release and cultivation by farmers in the southern Guinea Savannah and rain
forest ecologies of the South-Western part of Nigeria.
Also speaking, the immediate past Dean of the
Faculty, Prof. Gbadebo Olaoye, added that the faculty had, in 2007, constituted
a maize team comprising of soil scientists and economists in collaboration with
IITA.
Olaoye said that all varieties of maize were
treated for their yield potential, adaptation, and quality.
He added that the research team for maize was
sub-divided into three zones in the country and that Unilorin handles the
southern Savannah and the rain forest.
According to him, the Unilorin research team
tested for varieties in its allotted zone and anyone adapted “is the one to be
used’’.
“The
yellow grained maize variety was one of the nine maize varieties that were
termed open-pollinated and hybrids.
“These have been approved for release and
cultivation by farmers in different agro-ecologies of Nigeria by the National
Variety Release Committee (NVRC).
“This was approved through the National
Committee of the Naming, Registration, and Release of Crop Varieties, Livestock
Breeds and Fisheries at a meeting recently held,’’ Olaoye said.
The maize is an open-pollinated variety,
giving opportunity for a poor farmer to harvest the maize and plant it for the
next season.
He assured farmers that the grains would be
readily available to them during the 2021 growing season.
(NAN)
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