Dispatches

by Fr. Peter Abue

August 2007

Dear Friends of CORAfrica,

Greetings from Nigeria!

This month I bring you a report that signals hope for the children of rural Africa by way of scholarly research benefitting rural people at the grassroots level. CORAfrica’s intensive effort to encourage partnerships between universities has led to the recent visit of one of America’s renowned scholars to Nigeria. Dr. George Crosby, Professor of Plant Science at the State University of New York (SUNY), Cobleskill campus was CORAfrica’s guest this August 2007 (Read Dr. Crosby’s trip report). He represented the SUNY system to explore ways in which SUNY might partner with Nigerian universities, ultimately with the goal of assisting children of rural Africa.

On his arrival early in August, Dr. Crosby was warmly welcomed by the Cross River State University of Technology (CRUTECH), Calabar Main Campus, where he gave a presentation to Dr. Eka Braide, Vice Chancellor of CRUTECH and 24 faculty and administrators. This interaction afforded both parties a forum to discuss numerous opportunities for collaboration, including faculty and student exchange, internships, and joint research projects. He later traveled to the Agriculture Campus of CRUTECH, located in Obubra-Nigeria, where he had further opportunity to speak to approximately 80 agriculture faculty and students.

George and I with the University officials at CRUTECH

Perhaps what in practical terms put smiles on the faces of children across Nigeria during this visit, was the new knowledge that Dr. Crosby shared with us on Moringa oleifera, a multipurpose tree having promising potential for its nutritional benefits. In a world where there are staggering statistics about the lack of adequate amounts of food each day for children, with billions suffering from malnutrition, including protein-calorie and micronutrient deficiencies, a new discovery such as this signals a ray of hope. Moringa oleifera will surely be useful to boost the nutrition of African children because its roots are used as a substitute for horseradish, and its leaves are eaten as greens. According to Dr. Crosby, Moringa leaves contain more beta-carotene than carrots, more iron than spinach, more potassium than bananas, more vitamin C than oranges, and more protein than peas. Moringa leaf powder has been identified as a dietary supplement in developing regions such as Nigeria, where leaves could be dried and crushed to make a powder that can be added to other food. While there are references to health-related uses for moringa according to studies in Nigeria found in the literature, the tree remains relatively unknown and underutilized.

A moringa tree was found here

One of the main goals for the establishment of CORAfrica was for rural children to put their agricultural studies into practice. That was precisely what this visit achieved as our host shared his experience with gravity-feed bucket irrigation systems in use in over 100 different countries, and especially helpful to farmers during the dry season. Both Children and adults watched with keen interest how drip irrigation systems are operated. They are ready to apply this practical knowledge themselves on their farms. With thirty systems on ground donated by our host, CORAfrica has already started demonstration farms in two sites at Idum-Mbube and Ipong-Obudu. Should these work well, we will need to come up with a plan to obtain more of these and make them available to farmers. With 1800 packages of vegetable seeds, including tomato, pepper, beets, and cucumber supplied by our host, we cannot wait to apply the new knowledge in our demonstration farms.

George demonstrates the irrigation system at Ipong

On behalf of CORAfrica, we congratulate Dr. George Crosby for a successful visit. We are hopeful that his visit will encourage many others and jumpstart the partnership options now open to our universities. More so, this avenue will enable CORAfrica to intensify its efforts to bring university research to the grassroots, especially in its existing locations in Nigeria. As a follow up of that visit, CORAfrica is pairing with CRUTECH to do a proposal to the SUNY International Programs office, with a view of implementing its 5x5x1x2008 program. We are hoping that more scholars and vacationers will consider a trip to our projects and thus bring more hope to our children.

Welcoming George at the airport in Abuja

- Father Peter Obele Abue