The chief objective was to rapidly introduce improved technologies in wheat and maize in northern Nigeria. The principal tool for the demonstration is the management training plot (MTP), a farmer's field of a quarter to a half hectare in which the farmer practices the full technological package SG 2000 recommends. Technology recommended in the maize MTP calls for less use of fertilizer than had been common in the period when Nigeria subsidized fertilizer, but with better timing and a method of application, thus reducing costs.

Both extension staff and farmers were skeptical initially. They considered the process SG 2000 recommended too laborious. But the results were telling. The participating farmers gained 2.5 t/ha yield in wheat MTPs and 3.8 t/ha in maize MTPs on average. Through field days and workshops organized to promote the SG 2000 technology practices and to raise the awareness of farmers, SG 2000 gained credibility.

SG continued with its wheat seed production programme, which was producing nearly 100 tons of high quality seed per year.

Before 1996, national political and economic crisis limited the project to three northern states, and the number of participating farmers remained smaller than in other SG 2000 countries. But in 1996, the Federal Agricultural Coordination Unit (FACU) recognized the effectiveness of SG 2000 approach and organized a number of study tours for the heads of ADPs where SG 2000 was not working. SG 2000 provided training to extension staff for those non-SG 2000 states.

Recognising the achievement of the programme over the past 4 years, the Federal Department of Agriculture directed the 33 other states of Nigeria to adopt the MTP approach demonstrated by SG 2000. In 1996, SG 2000 mounted 3,900 MTPs, three times as many as the year before. Over 5,000 MTP were planned for 1997.

From 1992 to 1998, over 11,000 farmers participated in the programme, planting wheat and maize MTPs in the four northern states of Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa and Kastina. In 1998, SG 2000 expanded its geographic coverage with the inclusion of Gombe and Bauchi States.

In 1998, SG 2000 contemplated bringing the program to a conclusion. But in 1999, there were encouraging political developments: General Obasanjo was freed from prison, and, subsequently, he was elected the nation's president. SAA decided to maintain some programme activities in the country to support new national smallholder agricultural intensification strategies and programmes through 2002. A national project coordinator, Dr. A. M. Falaki, managed from now on the SG 2000 Nigeria programme, with backstopping by the former country director, Dr. Jose Valencia, who was reassigned to Malawi.

The project operated in six states. Nearly 5,000 management-training plots were established during the wet season—of which 3,216 were hybrid maize plots. On May 12, 1999, the National Maize Association of Nigeria presented Valencia with a merit award in recognition of SG 2000’s contribution to Nigerian agriculture.

In addition, farmers grew several hundred MTPs of other crops, including cotton, millet, cowpeas, and sorghum. The cowpea MTPs were the result of a joint program with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in cowpea seed multiplication. In another collaboration with IITA, a soybean promotion programme was started, working mainly in areas infected with Striga, a parasitic weed. High-yielding, disease-resistant IITA cassava varieties were also introduced into the wet-season MTP programme.

SG 2000’s reach had been extended across nine states, the new ones being Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara. It also continued to expand its partnerships with other organizations. Among the collaborative activities were: the promotion of the fungicide seed dressing, Apron Star, to control downy mildew in millet, with Novartis; fertilizer demonstrations in cotton and cowpea with Dan-Hydro; and the demonstration of new maize hybrids with Premier Seeds. SG 2000 was involved with state ministries of agriculture in promoting input marketing, demonstrations of new wheat varieties with the Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), and post harvest training for extension agents and farmers with the National Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI).

SG 2000 has received many requests to extend its crop-based technology transfer approach to all the 36 states of the Federation. In 2001, in addition to its 9 operational states, SG 2000 conducted training in Borno, Cross-River, Nassarawa and Ogun States.

With the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between SAFE and Ahmadu Bello University, the Extension Degree programme for mid-career extension staff was set to begin in October/November 2002. The university provided hostels and classrooms and other facilities, while SAFE acquired the equipment, books and journals needed to ensure that the programme takes off successfully.

New programme activities include collaboration with Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs) to assist secondary schools in six states to establish MTP. These was being will be used as demonstration plots in six crops for students and local farmers, thereby helping to disseminate improved technologies within the community.

“The external evaluation,” says SG 2000 project Coordinator Dr Ahmed Falaki, “seems to have relinked interest in the project. We are receiving increased support for the consolidation and expansion of our activities and also in laying a foundation for sustainability”.
A prime example is Bauchi State, where some 10,000 frontline extension agents and farmers were trained and provided with loan packages for inputs during the 2003 season. The Governor provided three vehicles and 801 motorcycles to assist in the supervision of farmers’ MTPs across the state. He also distributed cash and fertilizer to the best CT and MTP farmers, and motorcycles to the three extension agents who excelled in field supervision. The Governor wanted to sponsor further 20,000 MTPs during the 2004 wet season.

Nigeria was one of the four countries selected to keep on hosting SG 2000 programme from 2006.