IITA to embark on Private sector-led Agric Initiative

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has disclosed plans to begin a new private sector-led agriculture initiative christened Africa Agricultural Transformation  in June 2017.

The Project Leader, Sustainable Weed Management Technologies for Cassava Systems in Nigeria, Dr Alfred Dixon, made this known in Lagos.

“In partnership with the African Development Bank, we have engaged the private sector in 35 African countries to provide an avenue where Africa will feed itself and this we have done with the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation, which will be rolled out in June, this year”, he said.

Dickson expressed that the project was premised on the need  for  active participation of the private sector in advancing the development of the Agricultural sector in Africa.

“The private sector is very important because it will drive the market. Technology will go nowhere without the market. We need the input and the output markets. If we don’t have the private sector to play this role, technology will go nowhere, even the small-scale farmers will never benefit from our technology”, he said.

Commending Niji Farms and Allied Services Limited for its technological innovations in cassava processing, he expressed confidence that such innovations would generate income as well as curtail environmental pollution.

“I am very happy for this sort of initiative for cassava processing to provide increased income and reduce environmental pollution in Nigeria, particularly now that Nigeria is a global leader in cassava” he stated.