Headquarters of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan Oyo State: Greeted a high Caliber of Scientists and Technicians on a tour steered by the Director General of the Angolan Institute of Agrarian Development

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone– The tour equally integrates training of trainers (ToT) sessions on rapid cassava propagation systems using SAH technology, which was enabled by the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), under the receptacle of the Cabinda Province Agricultural Value Chains Development Project (CPAVCDP).

Observe that TAAT, in January of 2023 ratified a consensus worth $1.4 Billion, with the administration of Angola to deploy capacity-building drives eligible of attaining at least 10,200 value chain beneficiaries in the Cabinda Province of Angola by improving beneficiaries’ knowledge of crop, aquaculture, and livestock management to uptake the usage of enhanced technologies.

…the bracket of the agreement, TAAT is already deploying technologies for Early Generation Seed (EGS) multiplication, Tissue culture, and the SAH, best use of fertilizers and pesticides, the massification of fish production with the overture of modern fingerlings breeds (tilapia and catfish), small ruminants and poultry; training in good agricultural practices; promotion of industrialization along the value chains, and postharvest and value addition.

The Angolan delegation, upon appearance, clasped symposia with the IITA Management Team led by Ms. Hilde Koper, Prof Michel Abberton and Dr. Chrys Akem, who greeted the team and communicated changes around bolstering the ties between the government of Angolan and the Institute.

Been part of the ToT, the delegation from Angola toured Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited (OFN) in a bid to examine the practical bearing of the SAH technology in the field. While at the farm, the delegation journeyed the conventional screen houses, tissue culture laboratory, and soil and feed analysis laboratory.

The delegation equally visited the fields where the plantlets from SAH were demonstrated, with the visitors planting some plantlets and visiting a cassava processing plant capable of producing 300 tons of cassava daily.

In an immediate reaction, the head of TAAT Clearinghouse, Dr. Solomon Gizaw, asserted that “the visit portrays the growing commitment of high-level decision-makers across Africa to transform the agricultural sector through large-scale deployment of science- based, proven agricultural technologies to change the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of small-scale African farmers.”

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent