The Principal Investigator of the TELA maize project, Professor Rabiu Adamu, has disclosed that the highly anticipated Fall Armyworm-resistant Tela Maize variety will be made available to Nigerian farmers for planting by June next year.
Professor Adamu made this known while speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, at the African Conference on Agricultural Technologies (ACAT) and noted that the new maize variety has a 20 percent yield increase compared to the conventional variety.
He said maize will be released as hybrids and will be marketed by licensed seed companies to assist in the seed multiplication of this new maize variety in order to ensure there is no shortage of the seed.
IAR&T Introduces New Maize Varieties Tolerant to Fall Army Worm
According to him, tremendous progress has been made and that what remains is to fulfill the regulatory requirements, adding that by the end of December this year, possibly mid-January, a dossier would be submitted to the National Varietal Release Committee for evaluation and release of the transgenic maize hybrid for the first time in Nigeria.
“So, we are proposing to release at least two new high-yielding fall armyworm stem borer-tolerant maize hybrids for Nigeria, which is a great development because we don’t have any resistant varieties in the country.
NPFS Empowers Maize Farmers with New Seed Variety
“This maize variety has proven to be resistant to pests, and there will be some yield increases if you cultivate it compared to the non-resistant hybrids. That is the promise we are making. So in the next two months, there will be some great news for Nigerian farmers; hopefully, the farmers will have access to those seeds in May or June 2024.
He explained that the Tela hybrid yield is 6.5 to 7 tons per hectare instead of 3.5 to 4 tons per hectare, adding that the variety will also reduce the use of pesticides on maize, contributing to a healthy environment and savings for the farmer.
