Lake Chad Institute developes first durum wheat varieties

The Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), Maiduguri in Borno State has developed and released durum wheat varieties which is the first time in the history of Nigeria.

The institute is a federal government agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with the responsibility of supervising North Eastern states.

The Executive Director of the Research Institute, Professor Babagana Jugudum Kabir, stated this on Monday at an In-house review meeting and North East Zonal Refills Workshop with the theme “Promoting Resilience in Millet for Food Security, Poverty Reduction and Environmental Safety” in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

According to him “These varieties are called MBA MAJA and ALTAR 84, and have yields of 6.2t/ha. They are high yielding and have excellent baking qualities.

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“The institute is set to register and release four new wheat varieties comprising two bread and two durum wheat varieties this year,” he added.

Professor Jugudum said the Institute has the national mandate for the genetic improvement of wheat, millet and barley as well as the investigation of the problems of production of all agricultural food crops grown in the broad North East agro-ecological zone with emphasis on the farming system including integration of livestock, tree crops and agroforestry into production systems.

He gave the assurance that the Institute will continue to strive for excellence in research and development to attain the much-desired self-sufficiency in food production within the shortest possible time.

In her remark, the state Commissioner of Agriculture and Rural development, Dr. Mairo Ahmed Amshi, called on the Institute to take up the issue of value addition and marketing of agricultural produce seriously and provide appropriate solutions so that the rural farmers will have value for their production.