LIFE Biomass C+ meets TRIMING project
Participants in the LIFE Biomass C+ Project from the Agro-Energy Group of the Technical University of Madrid (GA-UPM) hold a meeting with Dr. F. Escribano, a researcher of CEIGRAM and contributor to the TRIMING Project, in Madrid (Spain) on February 2, 2018. The objectives of the meeting were to make known their respective activities, analyze common areas of interest and foster networking among researchers of the two Projects.
The TRIMING Project (TRansforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria) is a World-Bank-funded Project for the period June 19, 2014 to April 30, 2022. Its overall objective is to improve access to irrigation and drainage and to strengthen institutional arrangements for integrated water resources management and agriculture service selected large-scale public schemes in Northern Nigeria (http:/www.worldbank.org/en/country/Nigeria).
Linked to the TRIMING Project, a new action line for Innovative Research and Development for use of Typha for animal feed and biogas production in Hadejia Valley irrigation scheme (HVIS, Jigawa State, Nigeria) was set forth by researchers of the Research Centre for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental Risks (CEIGRAM-UPM). The proposal adopted the form of a project entitled ‘Converting Typha (Typha spp.) threat in Nigeria irrigation schemes to opportunity to improve livelihood of farmers’ (henceforth called ‘Typha Nigeria´), which has recently received approval from the World Bank. The Typha Nigeria project is participated by CEIGRAM-UPM, as coordinating institution, the University of Maryland (USA), the Federal University of Gashua (Nigeria) and the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) of Zaria (Nigeria).
In the course of the LIFE Biomass C+ - TRIMING meeting, attendees exchange information on their respective Projects, shared knowledge on Typha growth (cattail species) and agreed on the concept of turning a threat (e.g. the aggressive performance of Typha in irrigated lands of North Nigeria) into an opportunity; they identified as main common areas of interest the research on Typha spp. growth pattern, the exploitation of cattail biomass for bioenergy (e.g. biogas in TRIMING, bioethanol in LIFE Biomass C+) and bioproducts (e.g. ensilage in TRIMING, fibers in LIFE Biomass C+) and management techniques (among others, the harvesting procedures).
The meeting ended with a practical demonstration of the on-going works of the GA-UPM research team for the LIFE Biomass C+ Project, concerning cattails sampling and biomass collection. A genuine willingness to cooperate in future research was expressed by all attendees.