AfDB Vice President visits IITA

12 April 2019

On 26 March, Dr Jennifer Blanke, Vice President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) paid a courtesy visit to IITA headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria. She was received by IITA Director General, Nteranya Sanginga, the Deputy Director Generals, and members of IITA management. The purpose of her visit was “to see how the collaborations were going and how both parties can do better.”

AfDB has been in partnership with IITA on projects such as the SARD-SC Project (2013–2017), The ATASP-1 Outreach Program (2016 till date), and the TAAT program (2018 till date).

In his welcome remarks, Sanginga expressed his delight about the visit and gave an overview of the history of the Institute, hubs and stations, achievements and recognition, annual budget, donors, as well as staff and diversities. He said, “We are very transparent because we have no other agenda than to create positive impact, which everyone can benefit from.”

Speaking on the role of partnerships in achieving the transformation agenda of the Institute, IITA Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell said, “The transformation of African agriculture is not done by IITA alone, it is achieved through partnerships.”

According to the Coordinator of Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), Chrys Akem, IITA has a very strong partnership alliance with the AfDB to transform agriculture and scale up agribusiness opportunities throughout 18 key agricultural commodity value chains via the Bank’s “Feed Africa” agenda. TAAT is essentially a knowledge and innovation-based response to the recognized need for scaling up proven technologies across Africa.

During a tour of IITA facilities, Blanke expressed her delight with the Youth in Agribusiness Center, congratulating the youth who had undergone training through the Empowering Novel AgriBusiness-Led Employment for Youth in African Agriculture (ENABLE Youth) program, and have now become CEOs. Other stops on her tour included the Aflasafe, Nodumax, and GoSeed facilities and the IITA Women’s Group Farm.