{"id":17953,"date":"2026-06-20T13:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/equatorial-guinea-engages-iita-to-drive-agricultural-transformation\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:55:25","slug":"equatorial-guinea-engages-iita-to-drive-agricultural-transformation","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/equatorial-guinea-engages-iita-to-drive-agricultural-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Equatorial Guinea engages IITA to drive agricultural transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The former Minister of Agriculture in Equatorial Guinea, H.E. Victor Grange in a meeting with IITA representatives and partners.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In line with IITA<\/a>\u2019s public-private sector engagement agenda to improve the livelihood of millions of Africans, strengthen food and nutrition security, and transform the agricultural\u00a0sector, the institute received the former Minister of Agriculture in Equatorial Guinea (2016-2018), H.E. Victor Grange at the headquarters in Ibadan from 9 to 10 January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His visit was centered on exploring potential partnerships with IITA to advance agricultural commercialization in Equatorial Guinea and strengthen the country’s food and nutrition security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the meeting, IITA Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell<\/a>, highlighted IITA\u2019s core activities and technologies, during a video documentary that showed the institute\u2019s impact across Africa. Dashiell expressed optimism that the visit would lay the foundation for a mutually beneficial collaboration between IITA and Equatorial Guinea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IITA Director, R4D, Central Africa Hub, Zoumana Bamba<\/a> highlighting IITA’s extensive research in Central Africa, added that Equatorial Guinea was the only country in the region where IITA did not currently operate, while proposing a meeting with the country’s president to formalize the partnership and establish a framework for cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"H.E
H.E Grange on a tour of IITA Cassava Processing Center to see products made with cassava.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatives from several IITA programs including cassava breeding, Business Incubation Platform (BIP), soybean, Forest Center, and IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA), CGIAR<\/a> Centers WorldFish<\/a>, and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and IITA partner Institut national de recherche horticole (NIHORT)<\/a>, shared insights into their research, helping H.E. Grange identify potential areas for collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dashiell reassured him of IITA\u2019s support in fostering engagements with partners to support the country\u2019s agricultural goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H.E. Grange emphasized the urgent need for a transformation in Equatorial Guinea\u2019s agricultural sector, citing cassava and rice as major areas of interest. These two staples, which form the backbone of the country’s food security, would be key to Equatorial Guinea’s strategy to reduce dependence on imports and create job opportunities, particularly for youth and women, 80% of whom are currently unemployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He expressed keen interest in IITA\u2019s cassava varieties for garri<\/em> and flour production, noting that the leaves could be used for food and cosmetics. He also showed interest in IITA-BIP, youth agripreneurs\u2019 program, and plantain propagation for commercial production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H.E. Grange praised IITA\u2019s innovative contributions, citing the institute\u2019s cassava bread as a prime example of how local agriculture could replace costly imports. \u201cI tasted IITA\u2019s bread made with cassava and couldn\u2019t differentiate it from wheat bread. I believe that using cassava will save us money, as we rely heavily on wheat flour for everything,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emphasizing the need for private sector involvement in driving agricultural commercialization, H.E. Grange affirmed that Equatorial Guinea is ready to form an official partnership with IITA through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). \u201cWe cannot keep waiting on the government to sponsor us. We need to reach out to companies that could help sponsor these projects,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Dashiell assured him that IITA would support his vision, providing connections to key stakeholders to drive change. \u201cWe will work on connecting you with the right people and draft an MOU to formalize our partnership with the Equatorial Guinea Ministry of Agriculture,\u201d he said, signaling the beginning of a promising collaboration between IITA and Equatorial Guinea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contributed by: Ochuwa Favour Daramola<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In line with IITA\u2019s public-private sector engagement agenda to improve the livelihood of millions of Africans, strengthen food and nutrition security.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17954,"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 center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[203],"class_list":["post-17953","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","item-year-203"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/17953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/17953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20371,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/17953\/revisions\/20371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=17953"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=17953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}