Food security: Nigeria to release drought-tolerant maize variety — NABDA
Following the recent announcement by President Bola Tinubu declaring a state of emergency on food security, the Director General of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Professor Abdullahi Mustapha, has said that the country is in the final year to release the new maize variety called TELA.
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The maize which was developed at Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria is water efficient, drought tolerant and fights insects and pests such as Fall Armyworm.
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“This maize has to go through so many processes before it is released, now it is at the stage of varietal release where a trial is supposed to be conducted for the proper assessment for it to be released in the country. I think we are in the last year of assessment, the maize has been given to so many sections of the country where it is going to be planted and assessed and after the conclusion it is going to be released in the country”, he said.
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“It is ethical that whenever you are going to deploy research that is a product of biotechnology, you tell people what it is all about so that people will know that this is the product of biotechnology research and they will form opinions and positive opinions for that matter.
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