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Diamond Development Initiatives (DDI) has been recognized and honoured with the “Most Dedicated Rural Community Development Initiative in Nigeria” by the MEA Business Awards in the United Kingdom. Organized by MEA Markets magazine, the awards which is in its fifth edition is no doubt in recognition of DDI’s demonstrated commitment to the deployment of grassroots-led, bottom-top approaches in building a society that provides equitable opportunity for self-actualization through economic empowerment and sustainable livelihood initiatives.

1. “I am a soybean farmer. The yield from my farm had not been encouraging for the past 4 years. I was gradually getting frustrated. In 2019, DDI, as the implementing partner to the STaR project, came to our rescue. First, I never knew that using N: P: K fertilizer on soybean could reduce its yield. I inherited that practice from my parents. Thanks to DDI who introduced inoculant to us (instead of N: P: K fertilizer). At first, it appeared funny and incredible. DDI also brought an improved soybean variety and planted it with inoculant – using half the spacing we were used to – on a demonstration farm.

1. “I had a challenge of reduced yield for several years. I practised shifting cultivation in an attempt to increase yield but did not get appreciable results. Before DDI introduced the STaR project in 2019, I was in the habit of planting maize with a spacing of between 3 – 4 feet (75cm – 100cm approx.); a practice I never knew was reducing yield. During a training session facilitated by DDI, I learned that the required spacing was 1 foot (25cm approx.). At first, I was skeptical in accepting this new knowledge, but with DDI establishing a demonstration farm in our community where maize was planted with a spacing of 1 foot, all doubts were shattered.

Today is International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.” It is a day when women are celebrated and reminded to dream without any form of restriction. It is a day that signposts a call to action for accelerating gender parity; a day to celebrate women’s achievements and rally for women’s equality. With this year’s theme as ‘Choose To Challenge’, underscoring that a challenged world is an alert world; and from challenge comes change.

Annually, World Soil Day (WSD) is commemorated on December 5. The day serves as a platform to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil while advocating the sustainable management of soil resources for a food-secure future. The day highlights the importance of soil as a critical component of the natural system and as a vital contributor to human well-being. The theme for this year’s WSD is: Keep Soil Alive, Protect Soil Biodiversity. As the whole world commemorates the day, take a look at 15 soil-related key messages and fun facts from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Behold Our 18^th Anniversary Quiz & Giveaways Winners!

1. Facebook
2. Douglas Katung Douglas
3. Fagbemi Oluwafunmilola Kehinde
4. Dave Kenx
5. Gbolahan Joseph
6. Hadiza Maianguwa
7. Cecilia Aina

“With traditional methods, we struggled to process 50kg of groundnut into about 25 litres of groundnut oil and 25kg of groundnut cake per day. In 2017, we received a 5-year grant from the United States African Development Foundation (USADF), to boost our production – with technical and programmatic support from @DDINigeria.

Hearty congratulations to @USADF Grantee – Havenhill Synergy Ltd for winning the Microgrid Greater Good Award for a remote system. Your Kigbe Solar Mini-grid project has engendered a boost of the community’s economic activities, with several businesses like small-scale grocery stores, hair salons, soccer-viewing centres, etc. now depending on the grid, which was supported by @USADF, Power Africa, African Development Bank Mini-Grid HelpDesk and Inensus GmbH, with technical & programmatic assistance from @DDINigeria.

Ketil Karlsen, Head of European Union delegation in Nigeria once said, “For the availability of jobs, it is absolutely vital that businesses can thrive and for businesses to thrive it is important that they have access to affordable energy in order to compete.” And according to Damilola Ogunbiyi, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sustainable Energy for All, “We cannot achieve the promise of the Paris Agreement or Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 – access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all – without a clean energy transition that leaves no one behind,” adding that “Today, just under 800 million people globally lack access to electricity, and we must close these gaps with renewable, efficient and affordable solutions.”