RA 00183.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

Opening Address
A. Aboubakar 1
Honored guests, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the Government of Niger, I take personal pleasure in welcoming you to the
Second ICRISAT Regional Groundnut Meeting for West Africa. I wish you a pleasant stay in
Niger and hope that this event will enable you to know our country better. I would like to thank
ICRISAT and the Peanut CRSP for their financial support, without which this meeting could
not have taken place.
Niger's agricultural sector contribution to the gross national product fell sharply from 68%
to 47% between 1965 and 1985. This was mostly due to the increased importance given to
uranium mining. Nevertheless, the number of people engaged in agricultural work remains
very high; nearly 90% of the population depends for its livelihood on agriculture and livestock
breeding.
Agriculture is still mostly devoted to producing food crops. The main crops grown are millet
and sorghum. Rice production is less important than that of cowpea which is a traditional
food crop that has increased production steadily since the early eighties and has overtaken
groundnut production since 1976-77. Estimated marketed volume of local grains is between
10-15% of production with some yearly variations.
In his opening statement at the First ICRISAT Regional Groundnut Meeting for West Africa
in Sep 1988, my predecessor said that before the severe drought in 1973, groundnut production
ranked third in the country. The area under groundnut cultivation was 423 000 ha in
1968. In 1966, groundnut production was estimated at 312 000 t, i.e. an average of 880 kg per
hectare. Research has played a vital role in increasing production but the Government has
also contributed by establishing the National Marketing Corporation (SONARA), to lend
support to groundnut production, processing, and marketing.
Although groundnut exports have fallen, the crop is very important to the country. It is
valuable for its high protein and oil content. It is valuable both as a source of food and feed.
The first meeting in 1988 had two aims: 1) to give participants an opportunity to share their
experience of groundnut production and its improvement in the different countries of the
region and 2) to identify areas in which joint research could be developed. I am pleased to
see that these two objectives have been attained. The first workshop also enabled you to
meet regional researchers. At the end of the first workshop, you made recommendations and
you would like to follow up these to see how they have been implemented since the last
meeting and to find where the difficulties lie.
We are very pleased that the ICRISAT Sahelian Center has worked out a program which is
aimed at working together with all the groundnut scientists in the region. We pay tribute to this
work and we await the improvement in groundnut production in the region with eagerness. I
strongly believe that the strategies of the researchers present today, coming as they do from
national, regional, and international programs, will be duly studied so as to increase groundnut
production.
With the conviction that your deliberations will be most rewarding, I hereby open the
Second ICRISAT Regional Groundnut Meeting for West Africa.
Thank you.
1. Minister for Higher Education, Research, and Technology, Republic of Niger.
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