Recently, a delegation from IITA visited Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), to strengthen the partnership between IITA and the University.
The partnership between IITA and ABUAD, dating back 12 years, has evolved. Both institutions collaborate to provide employment opportunities for youth and promote technologies and research in the agriculture sector.
However, the collaboration will be expanded to advance agricultural research, disseminate cutting-edge technologies that can be scaled through public-private partnerships, and improve the livelihoods of youth, women, and rural farmers.
While speaking during the visit, IITA Deputy Director-General, Partnerships for Delivery (DDG-P4D), Kenton Dashiell, appreciated the management of ABUAD for their dedication and fulfillment of the partnerships it started in 2012 and was strengthened through its in-kind and cash support towards the successful implementation of Youth Employment in Agribusiness and Sustainable Agriculture (YEASA), a project funded by IFAD.
“This partnership has been highly successful through the time, commitment, and selflessness of the Founder of ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola. This partnership was nurtured and later blossomed into the impact we have been able to record and present to IFAD after the completion of YEASA,” he stated.
Dashiell also commended the university’s management for the innovations that emerge every year and its ability to improve its standards of practice.
The university’s founder, Aare Afe Babalola, expressed gratitude to IITA for its trust and collaboration in providing employment opportunities for youths in the agriculture sector through the YEASA project.
According to him, the ABUAD-IITA partnership blossomed because of the potential, trust, shared vision, and interest of both stakeholders.
He stated that the institution is willing to collaborate more with IITA to replicate and expand youth participation in agribusiness-related initiatives, research, community development, and technology advancement to benefit Africans.
“We have several partnerships worldwide, but I value the partnership with IITA because we intentionally delivered our terms. This partnership opened the doors for expanded collaboration, which has taken us to where we are today. As you can see, we now have an agribusiness industrial park where we look forward to collaborating with private investors. We need to re-ignite our partnership, assess our MoU, and modify the areas of collaboration for more impact,” he stated.
You will recall that the YEASA project, completed in 2022, was implemented by IITA, ABUAD, and Africa Rice through funding from IFAD. The project was implemented in Nigeria (Ekiti and Oyo states) and the Republic of Benin.
The team also paid a courtesy visit to the traditional ruler of Ado-Ekiti, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, HRM Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe. The traditional ruler also commended IITA for its efforts to end hunger and poverty in Africa and provide the required support to indigenous farmers.
Contributed by Adetola Adenmosun
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