More than 200 research and development partners and experts will
meet at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria, in a three-day
workshop to discuss a new initiative known as “Africa Feeding Africa”, or the
Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program. The TAAT
program is a critical strategy for transforming agriculture on the continent
that would ensure that Africa is able to feed itself through agriculture.
The goal of the TAAT Program
includes eliminating extreme poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, achieving
food sufficiency, and turning Africa into a net food exporter as well as
setting Africa in step with global commodity and agricultural value chains.
Adopting modernized, commercial
agriculture is the key to transforming Africa and the livelihoods of its
people, particularly the rural poor.
To carry out these objectives,
the African Development Bank (AfDB), working with IITA and other partners, has identified
eight priority agricultural value chains relating to rice sufficiency, cassava
intensification, Sahelian food security, savannas as breadbaskets, restoring
tree plantations, expanding horticulture, increasing wheat production, and
expanded fish farming.
The Forum
for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the CGIAR Consortium and 12 of its 15
international agricultural centers active in Africa support this initiative by
the Bank and the co-sponsors to revitalize and transform agriculture through
the TAAT program within the shortest possible time while restoring degraded
land and maintaining or strengthening the ecosystems that underpin agriculture.
The 12-14 April workshop is being organized by IITA in partnership with the
Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops (SARD-SC)
project for the African Development Bank, which is funding this mega
initiative.
The identification and preparation workshop is a preliminary step
to establishing and operationalizing the program. It will be attended by
leading agricultural experts from Africa and beyond, development institutions,
research agencies, the private sector, financial institutions, academia, and
civil society. The workshop is a response to the Action Plan for Agricultural
Transformation in Africa resulting from the AfDB-led high-level conference held in
Dakar, Senegal, in October 2015. The major objective is to execute a bold plan
to achieve rapid agricultural transformation across Africa and raise
agricultural productivity.
This
initiative will be led by IITA, FARA, CGIAR, national agricultural research
systems, and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). This will involve close
partnerships among AfDB, the World Bank, and major development partners to
ensure increased funding for agricultural research and development along the
value chains in Africa. CGIAR, FARA, AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center, Africa Harvest, and
other partners will provide the technical and developmental support for the
Bank’s quest of widespread agricultural transformation.
“IITA supports AfDB and partners
in ensuring that TAAT is effectively set up,” said IITA Director General, Nteranya Sanginga. “The
whole CGIAR system is backing this huge initiative with its research
infrastructure in collaboration with FARA, AGRA, Africa Harvest, and the
national partners. Everybody wants to ensure that this initiative succeeds.”
To date, about 22 African
countries have been identified as potential partners with the CGIAR centers in
the planning, content, and evaluation of investments in agricultural
transformation. This workshop gives an opportunity for more Regional Membership
Countries (RMCs) of AfDB to join in this effort.
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