38 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
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ITAMIN A is known to be essential for good vision, proper development of embryos, healthy skin and mucous membranes. It helps cells reproduce normally, plays a role in immune system function, growth, bone formation, reproduction and wound healing. It then follows that Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), considered a public health problem especially in Africa and SouthEast Asia, will lead to high risk of disease and death in children and pregnant women. Reports say that about 250,000 - 500,000 malnourished children in developing world go blind each year from VAD, about half of them die within a year of becoming blind. As the saying goes, ‘it is better late than never,’ so although VAD was supposed to have been eliminated since 2010 going by the 2002 UN Special Session on Children, Nigeria is yet to get there. But with the efforts of a team of researchers led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in developing vitamin A-fortified cassava, Nigeria is set to meet the target soon. The researchers said the cassava could help put an end to malnutrition due to vitamin A deficiency. In this chat with Mr. Adetoro Adeniyi of Cassava Breeding Unit, IITA, Ibadan, he speaks on what led to the development of Vitamin A cassava. Excerpts: Motivation: ccording to Adeniyi, the team was motivated to search for ways of improving the nutritional value of
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*Some varieties of the yellow cassava and their products being displayed.
IITA set to eliminate Vitamin A-induced malnutrition By EBELE ORAKPO thought of what we could do to solve this problem of people developing eye problems as a result of consuming white garri.” The Process: “We started from the seed, to the flower. We crossed the flowers, got the fruits and seeds and after planting the seeds, we got different varieties. The cassava is heterozygous in nature, that means if you have 1,000 seeds from a cross, you will have 1,000 different varieties. So whatever seed you have, it will be a different variety unlike what you have in other plants that are homozygous in nature. So after getting the seeds, we
No IITA variety will yield less than 25 tons per hectare on the average unlike the local variety that will hardly give you 8-10 tons per hectare
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cassava, the fourth largest staple after wheat, maize, and rice with an average consumption of 600 grams per capita per day in Nigeria and having over 200 million people in sub-Saharan Africa relying on it. “When we realised that most people around South-West Nigeria in particular, always complained of eye problems as a result of consuming white garri made from cassava, we decided to think of how to improve the nutritional value of cassava. In the South-West, if someone has eye problem, they say may be he is consuming too much of gar ri. We then
*Cassava flowers and fruits
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planted them and after one year, we took the seeds from the nursery and planted them in the breeding nursery. From the breeding nursery, we took them to cloner evaluation. From cloner evaluation, we took them to preliminary yield trial. From preliminary yield trial, to advanced yield trial, then from advanced yield trial, we took them to uniform yield trial. “At this point, we tried to see how they will perform in different places outside Ibadan. At the beginning, we might have had like 100,000 seeds but at the end of the five years, we did not
hectare on the average unlike the local variety that will hardly give you 8-10 tons per hectare. So you can see that IITA has really helped the farmer. ccording to the researchers including Dr Peter Kulakow, IITA Cassava Crop Leader, Dr. Norbert Maroya (IITA Cassava Breeder), Paul Ilona of HarvestPlus, Dr. Chiedozie Egesi (National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike), Mr. Godwin Atser, (of IITA) and Jeffrey T. Oliver, “the yellow root colour of the vitamin Arich varieties are products of over 20 years of breeding efforts for improved nutritional quality using traditional breeding methods involving hybridization and selection of cassava seedlings followed by clonal propagation of the selected desirable plants.” They believe the development of these varieties is a major breakthrough that will change the nutritional status of people living on cassavabased food.
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have more than 20, 25 plants after we have done a lot of *Mr. Adetoro Adeniyi selections which we call recurrent selection,” said Adeniyi. you are seeing do not conCharacteristics we look tain palm oil. You can see the for: yellow root and because we “We breed for disease-re- have different varieties, you sistant varieties, varieties see the difference in their that have high dry matter yellowness, that is the differand low cyanide and those ence in the level of beta with high yields. So after the carotene they contain. The crosses, we came to the va- fufu, garri, eba from the casriety that are yellow, yellow sava are all yellow.” in the sense that they have omparing the yield beta carotene which is a vifrom the local variety tamin A precursor, just like and that of the vitamin A you have in carrots.The body cassava, Adeniyi said; “The converts beta carotene to yield from the local variety vitamin A. is less than eight tons per The level of beta carotene hectare but with improved in the cassava is an indica- varieties, the farmer can tion of the level of Vitamin A have up to 200 tons per hecin it,” he said. tare. No IITA variety will “So the garri and cassava yield less than 25 tons per
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UNILAG don blames Nigeria’s underdevelopment on misuse of intellect By DAUD OLATUNJI
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Senior lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Lagos, Professor Aderemi Bidmos, has attributed the nation’s under-development to the misuse of intellect by Nigerians. Bidmos stated this while delivering a lecture at the National Conference of the Nigerian Universities Education Students‘ Association (NUESA) held at Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. Bidmos, who spoke on the Security Challenges in Nigeria Tertiary Institutions, submitted that misuse of intellect has led to the impoverishment of Nigerians, adding that corruption and its attendant trouble of insecurity are direct consequences of misuse of intellect by individuals in the country. “If, for example Nigerians are poor, it is due to misuse of intellect. We have the capacity to produce every single item im-
ported into this country. The crude oil that is sold to the West as one single item, is processed and sold back to Nigerians in more than 20 items. “Nigerians have no business with poverty if they can make use of their intellect in managing the natural resources gracefully deposited in their soil.” On maintaining peace on campuses, the don urged students to guard against the culture of serving as agents of money bags who recruit and finance trouble shooters on campus. “As students, your numerical strength is a unique asset that you must not waste. If you genuinely desire peace on your campuses, you should not demand it from anyone. You make it happen.” Earlier in his remarks, Mr. Idowu Joseph, NUESA national president said the conference was organised to highlight the need for peace in the nation's tertiary institutions.