COP27: What influenced our latest grant to Nigeria, Africa – Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation says its new commitment of 1.4 billion dollars to Africa, including Nigeria, is to spur region-led innovation to build a pipeline of climate-smart agriculture projects for smallholder farmers.
Mr. Enock Chikava, Interim Director, Agricultural Development, of the foundation, stated this in an interview on Sunday in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on the sidelines of the ongoing UN Conference on Climate Change.
While 2.1 million dollars are meant for research and development in the agriculture sector in Nigeria, Chikava said that the foundation would mobilize 9 million dollars for technologies that would help the region make a difference in livestock and crops.
"Our focus is 100 percent on smallholder farmers." If you look at the impact of climate change over the years, which I am sure has been felt in your own country, you will see that last year there was a severe drought and this year there were floods.
"So if you look at that, there are so many things that are against the people's livelihood, because 50 percent of your people depend on agriculture, and if 30 percent of your economy is driven by agriculture, it means you need to protect it."
"Now, there is that very platform that is responsible for lifting people out of extreme poverty that is under huge threat because of climate change, and because we focus 100 percent on smallholder farmers, we are going to be spending $1.4 billion to make sure that we do much better work."
"By that, we mean crops like cassava." We need cassava that can tolerate draughts and floods. In Nigeria, flooding has been the issue. In the research pipeline, the draught genre was never part and rarely a game, but now, we have draught and likely we are going to have more frequent draught.
"So we need to be improving cassava in Nigeria not only for today but also for the future." So we do that, and we focus on crops like cowpea. In cowpea, Nigeria's worth is 4.9 hectares, and that is a source of protein for the majority of the farmers.
"By introducing new varieties that are climate resilient, we are going to make sure that smallholder farmers have access to them," he said.
On the performance of Africa in various interventions, the Gates official said some countries were making progress while others were lagging behind.
"There is a biannual preview looking at every country, the progress it is making because there are certain indicators.
"If you look at those indicators, you will see which countries are doing well, which countries are lagging behind.
"There is Maputo/Malabo declaration that states 10 per cent of budget must be for agriculture, but Nigeria commits less than 2.5 per cent.
"You can't be successful without focusing on research and development. Do you know palm tree, its states of origin is Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
"Now two countries – Malaysia and Indonesia produce 98 per cent of the global palm. Do you know the biggest importer? Nigeria.
"The difference is R & D and that can happen in cassava; it can happen in any other one. That is why it is super important that we focus on research and development," said Chikava.
