An estimated US$830 000 is being invested in Nigeria’s soya bean value chain to increase production in order to meet demand.

A grant of US$300 000 from the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub has been allocated to promote the production of a new variety of high-yielding soya bean seed for uptake by commercial seed companies. In addition, through its Business Incubation Platform (BIP), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) will complement the grant by providing US$530 000 to help about 600 farmers – half of them women – in the state of Benue, to produce 751 tons of new breeder seeds, as well as 1 400 tons of foundation seeds by end-2022.

According to the IITA BIP, this new variety of seed could generate up to US$4 million in sales to seed companies. The trade hub’s Michael Clements says the new variety ‘has the potential to catalyse momentum for soya bean production and to offer growers a more profitable farming enterprise’. The farmers will also be introduced to yield-enhancing technologies and practices.

This is the first research and development project between the Trade Hub and IITA BIP.

4 May 2021
Image: Gallo/Getty Images