Nigerian Cassava and Aquaculture Innovations Platforms plan for post-RIU era
19 May 2011

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Two RIU-assisted innovation platforms (on cassava and aquaculture value chains) in Nigeria are making plans to sustain themselves beyond June 2011, when their formal collaboration with the RIU programme will phase out.

The plans have been evolving since November 2010, when all RIU-Nigeria programme stakeholders participated in a learning event at which progress was reviewed and ways forward explored for the post-RIU era.

Both the cassava and the aquaculture innovation platforms have fashioned out upbeat transition plans for their post-RIU existence. They are counting on support from national, state and local government agencies to institutionalise or mainstream the processes that have enabled the successes of the platforms.

The Cassava Innovation Platform, which became a registered multipurpose cooperative federation, changed its name to Agricultural Innovation Platform and has embarked upon a diverse range of programmes, including agricultural mechanisation (tractor hiring services), collaboration with the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) on the propagation of cocoa-yam and yam-seed, fertilizer distribution and other self-help initiatives which are in line with current national agricultural priorities. The platform has:

• increased the number of subscription-paying member-organizations from 25 in February 2009, to 77 as at March 2011
• introduced a monthly thrift contribution for its members
• developed plans to raise funds from providing technical assistance to groups in Imo and Bayelsa states in the formation of innovation platforms
• established a strong relationship and credibility with the Abia State Ministry of Agriculture
• formed a very productive working relationship with the Abia State Agricultural Development Programme which recently donated a five-hectare plot of land to the innovation platform for cocoa-yam and yam-seed production as a commercial venture

The Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) has stated its plans to incorporate the entire membership of the RIU-assisted Aquaculture Value Chain Innovation Platform into a World Bank funded West African Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) which is expected to take off this year. The Nigerian Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research (NIFFR) in New Bussa, Niger State, which is designated as a Centre of Excellence under the WAAPP initiative, has offered to host and nurture the secretariat of the Aquaculture Innovation Platform in the post-RIU era, until the platform gets fully incorporated into WAAPP later in 2011 or in 2012.

These post-RIU plans, and the commitments already made by various national and state agencies mentioned above, are indicative that the RIU-Nigeria programme has been able to facilitate, within the programme timeframe, the development of sustainable mechanisms and institutional capacities for institutionalizing and scaling up the value chain innovation platform model in promoting agricultural innovation in the country. Given the place of agriculture as the single biggest employer in the country, the up-scaling should address rural poverty and improve food security, livelihoods and local economic development.

Professor Ian Maudlin, Director of RIU, said:

"Most of the African Country Programmes have been piloting programmes at district or province level, and this can make it hard for them to work with national agencies to take forward their work. In Nigeria, the largest African country RIU is working in, two of the three innovation platforms are either being strongly supported by or incorporated into national or state-level processes and priorities. This is a remarkable achievement which has been made possible by the hard work of the RIU Nigeria team and the unqualified support of the ARCN. These results, which are indicative of positive institutional learning and change, have affected the practice of agricultural research and extension as well as a range of related processes; it has successfully demonstrated the benefits of private sector participation in agricultural innovation, and the merits of targeted value chain innovation platforms.

As the aquaculture and cassava platforms go through the planned changes, I will be really keen to see how they perform in the post-RIU phase. I'm optimistic that the ARCN and other agencies which have been tremendously supportive of the RIU programme in Nigeria, will ensure that the gains from the programme are sustained and built upon in the coming months and years. I look forward to seeing proof of such sustainability in Nigeria."