Kano — In a bid to acquaint farmers with technicalities of developing and selection of improved seeds, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has trained hundreds of farmers in Kano State.

Speaking at the 2009 farmers field day in Wase Village, Kano, the institute's Deputy Director General, Dr Paula Bramel said the training was organized by the institute with a view to equip farmers with modern techniques of farming.

Bramel added that participants at the occasion including farmers, traditional rulers, policymakers, scientists and the general public, were shown the results of several years of scientific agricultural researches conducted by the institute.

"IITA is involving the farmers into the programme by allowing them to identify problems associated to their farming activities so as to enable the institute conduct researches on such problems with a view to come up with scientific solutions," she noted. She pointed out that, the issue of improving Agriculture is something that needs collective efforts from both farmers and institutes like IITA, adding that, IITA is ready to collaborate with farmers to improve agricultural activities in Kano state.

One of the researchers, Mr. Chris Biemond of the Institute of Agricultural Research , Zaria said that, researchers have discovered that it is high time for the farmers started developing seeds on their own, hence, the institute decided to embark on the programme.

Daily Trust observed that, various techniques were taught to the participants. The techniques include quality farmers' cowpea seed, cropping system trials, IITA Mini core collection, selection of the striga resistant cowpea genotypes, soyabean/bambara nut screening, advance cowpea lines screening, cassava breeding and purdue improved cowpea storage among other techniques.