IITA to collaborate with Arise IIP to create sustainable value chains

24 June 2022

On 14 June, Dr Adeola Odedina, Commissioner for the Ministry of Agriculture, Ogun State, Nigeria, accompanied by the ARISE Integrated Industrial Platform (Arise IIP) Vice President, Suren Abeywickrema, and the OgunInvest group visited IITA headquarters. The visit aimed to secure expert support for some crops, including cassava, maize, soybean, and their value chains for local, regional, and export markets.

Mr Suren Abeywickrema outlining his request to the IITA team.
Mr Suren Abeywickrema outlining his request to the IITA team.

Director of IITA Development and Delivery Office, Alfred Dixon, welcomed the teams and outlined IITA’s activities through a video. He said that IITA is available to foster partnerships for agricultural development with African stakeholders.

Odedina briefly introduced OgunInvest, which improves the ease of doing business in Ogun State by promoting investors and investment opportunities in the State. He further explained that Arise IIP, through Oguninvest, wants to collaborate with IITA to develop a roadmap and agenda on the agricultural value chains of some crops.

Abeywickrema explained that Arise IIP is a joint venture between Olam, AP Moller, and the Africa Finance Corporation. The platform focuses on identifying industrial gaps in Africa and creating new industries through transforming local raw materials.

Abeywickrema also explained the platform’s emphasis on agroprocessing and crop production with sustainable value chains that will create jobs within the country and have competitive value in the global market. Therefore, he requested data about other crops to know the type of crops they would adopt.

Prof. Sanni discussing next steps with the Ogun State team.
Prof. Sanni discussing next steps with the Ogun State team.

Responding to his request, BASICS II Project Manager Lateef Sanni highlighted why “modified cassava starch” would be the best market for Arise IIP, as the pharmaceutical, livestock, and plywood industries would have a high demand for it.

IITA management team with the OgunInvest and Arise IIP team
IITA management team with the OgunInvest and Arise IIP team

In addition, Sanni mentioned that IITA would support them in building cassava tissue culture to ensure a clean cassava stem. He added that the Institute would connect Arise IIP with IITA-GoSeed so the industry could grow the seed according to their specification, which would lead to increased yield.

Contributed by Anita Akinyomade