The Documentary on Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs Transforming Africa

Cassava will become like oil and gas – Dr Fregene

Nigeria will make cassava production so efficient that industrial users will be tempted to invest heavily in the sector, Special Adviser (Technical) to the Minister of Agriculture and Team Leader, Cassava Transformation, Dr Martins Fregene, has said, insisting that cassava in Nigeria will soon start attracting about $500 profit per hectare.

Dr Oredipe said the idea of stable crop processing zone is an innovative policy to make sure that the country has infrastructure line up to support the agricultural revolution that the nation engages in. He stressed that the Stable Crop Processing Zone is a meeting point where things are made to work for farmers

The cassava rollout programme is a joint project between the federal and Kogi State governments with support from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture which provided the cassava stem varieties and Brazilian farmers providing the mechanized technology as project consultant for the processing zone.

World Bank hails Nigeria’s agric policy

A Senior Agricultural Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Tunji Oredipe, has hailed the Federal Government’s policy in the agric sector. Speaking on the agricultural policy of the Buhari administration on NTA in Abuja, Oredipe said the donor community was impressed this administration did not embark on a ‘policy sommersault’ in the agric sector.

He said there was apprehension, being a new government and a different party from the preceding administration.
According to the agricultural economist, “the fear has, however, been positively addressed with the policy document launched today”.

He hoped that with the participation of financial institutions as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Bank of Industry (BOI), and others, the “issue of finance for agriculture will be finally resolved as the donor community will support the initiative”.
Oredipe praised the “selectivity in the process of participation with involvement of states and local governments, broadening of focused crops to include livestock and the change of fertiliser from general to location-based utilisation”.

http://thenationonlineng.net/world-bank-hails-nigerias-agric-policy/

Read about IITA’s Refreshed Strategy 2012-2020

IITA Strategic Plan

http://www.iita.org/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=bd62b9be-a2f4-486d-8cd5-bbcd6a40a806&groupId=25357

 

The lead research partner facilitating

Agricultural solutions for hunger and

Poverty in the tropics 

 

Our Mission 

To offer leading research partnership that facilitates agricultural solutions for

hunger, poverty, and natural resource degradation throughout the tropics

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture’s refreshed strategy serves as

a guide and goal for the effective and efficient implementation of its agricultural

research for development (R4D) and contribution to development impact in the

tropics. It provides the foundation for developing a cohesive and better-focused

high-quality research program to achieve IITA’s vision and mission, ensuring strong

programmatic alignment within the CGIAR global research program portfolio. It

enhances accountability through better monitoring and evaluation of expected

targets and to maintain and improve our comparative advantage in relevant,

cutting-edge agricultural research. 

source: www.iita.org

 

Kenya Government making agriculture ‘cool’ for youths, says CS Bett

The government wants to make agriculture “cool” in a bid to encourage Kenyan youths to engage through modern technology.

Agriculture cabinet secretary Willy Bett said on Monday during an Agricultural summit at State House that this was meant to make agriculture more attractive to the younger people who see it as a reserve for the old and those in rural areas.

He said that the government is especially concentrating on mechanization and automation explaining that reports indicate most Kenyans are still using outdated technology.

“There will be a plan on how technology transfer will be done so that we make it cool for young people,” Mr Bett said.

Further, Mr Bett assured Kenyans that the country is food secure.

http://www.nation.co.ke/counties/nairobi/Govt-making-agriculture--cool--for-youths/1954174-3345398-bmgx66/index.html

We must make agriculture exciting for the youth – AFDB PRESIDENT

“The future of our young people does not belong at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies in us tapping their talents and putting our resources to support them”. These were the words of the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, while commenting on the AfDB’s key efforts that recognize the role of youth in sustainable development which resonates with the focus of the 2016 International Youth Day (IYD).

The 2016 IYD is about achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It emphasizes the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production.

AfDB had recently launched “Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA)”, a strategy which underscores the importance of Africa to promote transformative and inclusive development, where the youth are the drivers of the required transformation and are responsible for their own positive economic and social outcomes. JfYA is expected to reduce poverty, inequality, as well as economic and conflict-driven migration, increasing social cohesion and political stability.

The strategy will see the Bank invest $5 Billion over the next 10 years to create 25 Million new jobs. These investments are expected to open opportunities for 50 Million young people through skills development, and job creation in Agriculture, Industry and ICT. The initiative is expected to generate over $30 Billion in income gains for Africa in the next 10 years.

The Agriculture sector, according to Adesina, offers numerous opportunities for job creation for Africa’s youth. He said, “Agriculture is the future for Africa. We must make agriculture exciting for the youth; and we must stop looking at agriculture as a way of life, as a sector that manages poverty. Agriculture is a business; in fact it is the biggest business in the world”.

The AfDB, through its East Africa Regional Resource Centre (EARC), is currently in discussion with the Kenyan government on how to train youth in agribusiness and develop proposals on bankable projects that can be funded by the Bank.

 http://agronigeria.com.ng/must-make-agriculture-exciting-youth-afdb-president/