Dominicans call for partnership with IITA to empower their team in agricultural activities

17 February 2022

The Order of Preachers (OP), an order of Catholic priests also called Dominicans, paid a courtesy visit to IITA Headquarters on 1 February to discuss areas of collaboration between IITA and the Order. The OP was founded in 1816 by Saint Dominic de Guzman, and its impact on people’s livelihood has grown over the years.

Reverend Father Francis Chiadi (OP) highlighting suggested areas of collaboration with IITA.

Reverend Father Francis Chiadi, OP Chairman, Senate Ceremonial Committee, Dominican University, gave a general introduction about the Order. He highlighted the University’s desire to explore its agricultural potential by incorporating research activities to empower its team in the new site in Omotoso, Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria.

“We want to get involved in capacity development including training, knowledge sharing, and technology dissemination; technical support for commercial agricultural production and processing technologies; and visits to IITA by students of the Dominican University,” he stated.

DDG-P4D Kenton Dashiell speaking on terms of partnership engagement.

In response, Alfred Dixon, Director for Development and Delivery, said that IITA has worked with the Dominican Order in Moniya under the Weed Management Project. “I look forward to reviving this partnership, but we should start with an MoU,” he said.

IITA Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell, added that strategic avenues would be employed to integrate the Dominican community with the IITA community. Dominican students would be linked to IITA’s activities in Ghana since the Dominican Order also operates in Ghana. In addition, they would have access to useful information by being added to IITA mailing lists. He also suggested that an MoU be signed before collaboration.

Youth Employment in Agribusiness and Sustainable Agriculture Project Coordinator, Oluyemi Adunoye, noted that the unit could provide capacity development activities for youth who fit into the criteria of existing projects that the IITA Youth Agripreneurs implements, such as the IFAD Agri-hub project and the I-Youth project.