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The International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture and China’s Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences have
begun a partnership to improve food security and create jobs for the
growing youth population in Africa.
The new partnership is part of China’s
efforts to deepen collaboration with Africa in the area of agricultural
development with the cooperation of the IITA.
CATAS, the agency promoting the
collaboration with the IITA, described the partnership as a win-win
situation for both China and Africa, especially in the quest for food
sufficiency.
The IITA, a non-profit organisation
founded in 1967 in Nigeria and governed by a board of trustees, is one
of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions to hunger,
malnutrition and poverty.
According to the institute, it works
with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer
and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture.
According to the Head of Communication,
IITA, Katherine Lopez, under the proposed framework for CATAS and the
IITA collaboration, both parties agreed to work together on crop
improvement especially cassava, banana/plantain, spices, vegetables and
cocoa.
The framework would also see
Africa-China student and researcher exchange programmes that would
engender learning and capacity development, she added.
Other areas include but are not limited
to ‘germplasm’ exchange and upstream research such as the development of
molecular markers, genomics, mechanisation, and breeding of cassava
resistant to cassava mosaic disease and cold tolerant cassava varieties,
according to the statement.
The IITA-CATAS collaboration is part of the IITA’s strategy to deepen partnership between the North and the South.
Receiving a delegation from CATAS, the
Director-General of IITA, Nteranya Sanginga, who was represented by
Alfred Dixon, said the proposal for joint cooperation was a step in the
right direction.
“We are excited over this development
and we want to work with you. The IITA is committed to working with
CATAS to help China fight the scourge of crop pests such as cassava
mosaic disease that is economically important to both China and Africa,”
Sanginga said.
The leader of the Chinese delegation,
Deputy Secretary-General of CATAS, Wang Jiabao, said his organisation
was excited to visit the IITA and proposed that both organisations
should initiate joint development in areas of mutual interest that would
attract international funding from China and elsewhere for agricultural
development.
In Nigeria, IITA and CATAS will be
working with GAWAL, a private Chinese agricultural firm, on several
agricultural issues. GAWAL has also offered to serve as a link between
the IITA and other Chinese agricultural solution providers.
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