{"id":14357,"date":"2026-06-20T12:34:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/step-hosts-cgiar-global-director-at-fasola-agribusiness-facility\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:28:21","slug":"step-hosts-cgiar-global-director-at-fasola-agribusiness-facility","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/step-hosts-cgiar-global-director-at-fasola-agribusiness-facility\/","title":{"rendered":"STEP hosts CGIAR Global Director at Fasola agribusiness facility"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andre Zandstra, Global Director, Innovative Finance and Resource Mobilization at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cgiar.org\/\">CGIAR<\/a> System Management Office, visited the <a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/\">IITA<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/www.startthemearly.org\/\">STEP<\/a> Agribusiness Facility in Fasola, Oyo State, during his visit to the IITA headquarters in Ibadan recently. He was received by the students, STEP teachers, school administration, and members of the STEP team at Fasola Grammar School, Oyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure id=\"attachment_25066\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25066\" style=\"width: 820px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25066\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Andre-Zandstra-at-the-processing-center-of-the-facility.jpg\" alt=\" Andre Zandstra at the processing center of the facility.\" width=\"820\" height=\"411\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25066\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andre Zandstra at the processing center of the facility.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While touring some of the facilities, which included the Processing Centre, ICT room, training room, broilers\u2019 and layers\u2019 pens, the screen house, School Hall, classrooms, and Central Science Laboratory, Zandstra expressed delight and commended the impact the facilities are having in the learning process of the students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A STEP representative gave a brief background on the program\u2019s success stories and how it has impacted the students, schools, and community, and added that this gave birth to the STEP-Oyo partnership, which operates in 10 schools in the state. The school principal, Mr Lamidi Abolaji, described how the project has increased enrollment in the school, adding that \u201cFasola community is developing into a \u2018semi-urban\u2019 environment due to the intervention of STEP and IITA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure id=\"attachment_25067\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25067\" style=\"width: 820px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25067\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Andre-Zandstra-with-STEP-Trainers-at-the-Facilitys-poultry.jpg\" alt=\"Andre Zandstra with STEP Trainers at the Facility\u2019s poultry\" width=\"820\" height=\"411\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25067\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andre Zandstra with STEP Trainers at the Facility\u2019s poultry<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zandstra revealed that he was surprised by the impact of modern agricultural equipment, small-scale farm machines, and digital tools on the students and other beneficiaries. He also expressed gladness at the increase in student enrollment because of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe STEP activities, model, and technologies are an incredible opportunity for students, and it\u2019s wonderful to see the project\u2019s impact in secondary schools. It\u2019s amazing\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After his visit, Zandstra remarked, \u201cOne of the many highlights was the visit to the Start Them Early Program and Oyo Youth Agribusiness Park \u2013 a model for other CGIAR Centers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Contributed by Jesutofunmi Robinson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andre Zandstra, Global Director, Innovative Finance and Resource Mobilization at the CGIAR System Management Office, visited the IITA-STEP Agribusiness Facility in Fasola, Oyo State, during his visit to the IITA headquarters in Ibadan recently.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":14360,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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