As part of IITA–CGIAR efforts to ensure that Africa is food secure, delegates from Raedial Holdings Limited visited IITA on 12 October to explore possible partnership areas with the Institute focusing on banana and pineapple production.
IITA Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery (DDG-P4D) Kenton Dashiell highlighted the importance of partnerships in helping the Institute accomplish its mission, especially in upscaling its innovation to the end-users through partnerships. “IITA operates in an open-access partnership; hence, our success is your success,” Dashiell stated.
Raedial Holdings Managing Director Engr Uwadiale Agenmonmen explained that Raedial wants to partner with a French company, Compagnie Fruitière, on banana and pineapple production. He added that they visited IITA to explore improved varieties of these crops, their value chains, business opportunities, and associated technologies to ensure high productivity. Agenmonmen also requested if pepper can be intercropped with the mentioned crops.
“The partnership outcome would help improve Nigeria’s economy and provide employment opportunities to the youth,” he said.IITA Business Incubation Platform (IITA-BIP) Business Development Officer Victoria Ayeni and Human Resources Specialist Wole Oladokun described BIP’s focus on addressing market demands by commercializing and scaling innovative agriculture technologies and services to the end-users. Ayeni highlighted some success stories that have been scaled up to private partners, including Aflasafe, Nodumax, and semi-autotropic hydroponics (SAH).
IITA Regional Breeding Manager Delphine Amah gave background information on some banana varieties, especially the Cavendish variety. She elaborated on the importance of using high-quality planting material and proper management practices since theirs would be a commercialized farming venture.
Amah suggested that Raedial Holdings could explore a structure of producing their own planting material since it would be a continuous process and also have a tissue-culture laboratory to ensure the materials are disease-free. This would serve as a linkage for partnerships with other private sectors and SMEs, providing extra income to Raedial.
Following the discussion, Oladokun stated that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would be needed to facilitate the partnership. In addition, Raedial Holdings would be linked with a third-party institute for pineapple production.
The team visited the banana tissue culture laboratory and Contec Laboratory for more insights about tissue culture.
Contributed by Anita AkinyomadeContributed by
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