Familiarization visits and Sensitization

At the onset of the project, the research team members embarked on familiarization visits and Sensitization about the project to twenty-four (24) randomly selected villages across three (3) states in Nigeria namely; Oyo, Kwara, and Niger states in October, 2021. The farmers were briefed on the importance of cultivating stress (drought, and Nitrogen deficient soils) tolerant maize varieties to boost farmers’ yields in the ecologies. Selected eight (8) villages in Oyo state are located in the low land rain forest zone; those three (3) selected in Kwara state are from derived Savannah zone; and the remaining thirteen (13) from Niger state are in Guinea Savannah zone. During the visits, relationship was also established with contact farmers. Some of the pictures taken at the villages visited are presented as follows:

Team Familiarization visit to farmers in Offa Village, Oyo State

(Prof. Ayinde – 3^rd from left and Dr. Olarewaju – 1^st from left)

Team Familiarization visit to farmers in Sukuru Village, Oyo State

(Prof. Ayinde – 5^th from left in the first picture)

Team Familiarization visit to farmers in Memudu Village, Kwara State

(Prof. Olaoye – 3^rd from left and Dr. Olarewaju – 2^nd from left)