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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

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researcher spotlight

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin is the Acting Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review.

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Development Strategies and Governance

Hyacinth Edeh

Country Program Manager

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Bio

Hyacinth Edeh is a Country Program Manager in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit, based in IFPRI’s Abuja Office. His current research interest is in small-scale private irrigation in Nigeria. Before joining IFPRI, he lectured with the Pre-degree School of Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, and worked with the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu, as an Associate Research Fellow. He earned his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Economics from the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, and an MS in Agricultural Economics with a specialty in Resource and Environmental Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Publications

Publications

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Report

Impact evaluation of the use of PBR cowpea in Nigeria: Baseline report

2024Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubhran; Zambrano, Patrica; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Edeh, Hyacinth; Chambers, Judith
Details

Impact evaluation of the use of PBR cowpea in Nigeria: Baseline report

Nigeria is the largest consumer and producer of cowpea in Africa. Produced predominantly by smallholder farmers, cowpea is relied on by millions of Nigerians and is one of their main sources of affordable protein. Despite cowpea’s economic relevance (Nwagboso et al. 2024; Phillip et al. 2019), cowpea yields in Nigeria have barely grown over the last 20 years. One of the main abiotic constraints of the crop is the pod-borer insect (Maruca vitrata), which can cause damages of up to 80 percent. Given that conventional breeding has not been successful in addressing this constraint, local and international efforts over the last decades focused on developing a pod-borer-resistant (PBR) cowpea. The culmination of these efforts in Nigeria was the commercial release of the PBR cowpea variety SAMPEA-20T in late 2019. This is a significant milestone, as it was the first transgenic food crop to be approved for cultivation in Nigeria. In its programming under the “Feed the Future Innovative Maize and Cowpea Technologies to Increase Food and Nutrition Security in Africa” activity, implemented by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) aims for an adoption rate of PBR cowpea in Nigeria of 25 percent by 2025, with yield gains of 20 percent and accompanying reductions in pesticide applications. The International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI) Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS) is leading a five-year (2021–2026) impact evaluation (IE) project, funded by USAID. The study goal is to generate causal evidence of the use of the PBR cowpea variety and its consequential household and farm impacts and associated value chain effects. In a collaboration with IFPRI’s Nigeria Country Office, PBS is leading and coordinating the overall study while the IFPRI-Nigeria Country Office designs and implements the quantitative and qualitative approaches to the evaluation. IFPRI has worked with technology developers, the AATF and its partners (including private local seed companies), to ensure access to necessary data and cooperation by the evaluation team, while maintaining the team’s independence. To ensure such required independence, the evaluation team has separated the cooperation in implementing the evaluation (including distributing inputs) from the data analysis. The evaluation team will continue to maintain its independence in the methodological approach and the analysis of the results from the implemented randomized controlled trial (RCT), adhering to international standards.

Year published

2024

Authors

Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubhran; Zambrano, Patrica; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Edeh, Hyacinth; Chambers, Judith

Citation

Andam, Kwaw S.; Amare, Mulubhran; Zambrano, Patrica; Bamiwuye, Temilolu; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Edeh, Hyacinth; and Chambers, Judith. 2024. Impact evaluation of the use of PBR cowpea in Nigeria: Baseline report. NSSP Project Report: June 2024. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/145074

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Western Africa; Africa; Cowpeas; Smallholders; Nutrition; Yields; Pests; Transgenic Plants; Value Chains; Impact Assessment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Report

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Brief

Seed certification and maize, rice, and cowpea productivity in Nigeria

2023
Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Abdoulaye, Tahirou; Andam, Kwaw S.; Edeh, Hyacinth; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Haile, Beliyou; Kumar, P. Lava; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Ragasa, Catherine; Spielman, David J.
…more Wossen, Tesfamichael
Details

Seed certification and maize, rice, and cowpea productivity in Nigeria

Despite the potential importance of seed quality to agricultural productivity growth, many governments in sub-Saharan Africa lack the capacity to expand quality assurance systems even where there is expressed interest. This brief summarizes the key insights from a recent study in Nigeria. The evidence points toward the benefits of pursuing balanced, flexible seed quality assurance systems rather than focusing singularly on expanding rigorous seed certification systems, as the country has done until recently. These recommendations are based on findings from the 2010–2018 period in Nigeria: Increased supply of certified seeds of maize, rice, and cowpea had positive effects on farm-level use of certified seeds, yields, and output, but these effects diminished as certified seed supply continued to expand. Moreover, yield gains from certified seeds tend to vary considerably across locations. As certified seed becomes more available to farmers, its use spreads from higher-return farms to lower-return farms, diminishing overall productivity benefits. These results are consistent with the view that singularly expanding rigorous seed certification faces diminishing returns. More balanced, pluralistic systems that also allow for moderate quality assurance, such as quality declared seed (QDS), may be worth trying in Nigeria.

Year published

2023

Authors

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Abdoulaye, Tahirou; Andam, Kwaw S.; Edeh, Hyacinth; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Haile, Beliyou; Kumar, P. Lava; Nwagboso, Chibuzo; Ragasa, Catherine; Spielman, David J.; Wossen, Tesfamichael

Citation

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Abdoulaye, Tahirou; Andam, Kwaw S.; Edeh, Hyacinth; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Haile, Beliyou; et al. 2023. Seed certification and maize, rice, and cowpea productivity in Nigeria. Seed Equal Policy Brief December 2023. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.137014

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Africa; Western Africa; Seed Certification; Maize; Rice; Cowpeas; Agricultural Production; Supply; Yields; Farmers

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.137014 Source record

Project

Seed Equal

Record type

Brief

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Working Paper

Climate risks and damage abatement effects of pesticides: Evidence based on four-wave panel data in Nigeria

2023Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Edeh, Hyacinth; Lawal, Akeem; Oniybe, Johnson E.; Daudu, Christogonus K.; Andam, Kwaw S.
Details

Climate risks and damage abatement effects of pesticides: Evidence based on four-wave panel data in Nigeria

Managing biotic stress, such as pests, diseases, and weeds, remain critical in enhancing the productivity of agrifood systems in developing countries, including Nigeria. The public sector continues to seek solutions for efficient and effective measures for addressing these biotic stresses, ranging from varietal technologies, improved crop husbandry, and the application of agrochemicals. The field-level evidence remains scarce regarding the effectiveness of these measures in developing countries like Nigeria. Furthermore, increasing climate uncertainty poses further challenges in identifying effective measures. This study assesses the damage abatement effects of agrochemicals in Nigeria and how these effects are affected by weather shocks. We extend the standard damage abatement framework to 4 waves of farm panel data to minimize the potential bias due to the endogeneity in agrochemical use decisions. Our results indicate that weather shocks have significant effects. In particular, rising nighttime minimum temperatures above 20 ℃ have significantly increased damage abatement effects of pesticides in Nigeria. This is possibly because of increased pest activities induced by the warmer nighttime temperatures, which, in the absence of pesticide uses, would cause more significant damage to crops. These results hold for all crops combined, as well as individual crops, including cowpea and maize, for which Nigeria has intensified its effort in pest control through both agrochemicals and Bt varieties in recent years.

Year published

2023

Authors

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Edeh, Hyacinth; Lawal, Akeem; Oniybe, Johnson E.; Daudu, Christogonus K.; Andam, Kwaw S.

Citation

Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Edeh, Hyacinth; Lawal, Akeem; Oniybe, Johnson E.; Daudu, Christogonus K.; and Andam, Kwaw S. 2023. Climate risks and damage abatement effects of pesticides: Evidence based on four-wave panel data in Nigeria. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2204. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136983

Country/Region

Nigeria

Keywords

Western Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Data; Pesticides; Agrifood Systems; Developing Countries; Agrochemicals; Biotic Stress; Weather; Shocks; Climate Change

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Links

https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136983 Source record

Record type

Working Paper

Events

Improving Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition in Nigeria: Policies and Actions
Series/Special Event

 | 

July 25, 2024, 10:00 – 1:30 pm

Improving Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Nutrition in Nigeria: Policies and Actions

Despite significant progress in addressing hunger and undernutrition in the early 2000s, malnutrition, in all its forms, remains a major challenge in all regions of the world.  Unhealthy diets remain the primary drivers of many forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, overweight and obesity, micronutrient deficiencies, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases.  Today, the number of people who […]

Rethinking Food Crisis Responses
Series/Special Event

 | 

May 11, 2023, 5:00 – 8:45 am

Rethinking Food Crisis Responses

Virtual Event: May 11, 2023 – 5:00 AM to 8:45 AM EDT. Please join the Nigeria presentation of the Report and the launch of the FCM Initiative on May 11 in Abuja, Nigeria, in person or virtually.