A high-level delegation from Côte d’Ivoire conducted an immersion at the IITA headquarters in Ibadan from 16 to 18 June. The visit was part of the ‘Programme de Développement des Chaînes de Valeur’ (PDC2V), a national initiative aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity, value chain development, and rural livelihoods.
The delegation comprised representatives from key Ivorian institutions, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Food Production, the National Agronomic Research Centre (CNRA), the Inter-Professional Fund for Agricultural Research and Extension (FIRCA), the National Rural Development Support Agency (ANADER), and the World Bank Côte d’Ivoire Office.
The visit aimed to strengthen partnerships between IITA and Côte d’Ivoire’s agricultural development organizations, with a focus on enhancing productivity and sustainable agricultural growth across West Africa.
IITA Director General and CGIAR Regional Director for Africa, Simeon Ehui, alongside members of IITA’s senior management team, warmly received the delegation. In his welcome remarks, Ehui expressed appreciation for the visit and reaffirmed IITA’s readiness to work with Côte d’Ivoire to deliver our agricultural technologies and solutions. “IITA is committed to transforming Africa’s agriculture through partnerships that drive innovation, resilience, and food security,” he stated.
IITA Interim Deputy Director General Partnerships for Delivery (DDG-P4D), Tahirou Abdoulaye, presented IITA and CGIAR’s value propositions to accelerate agricultural transformation in Côte d’Ivoire. He emphasized the role of IITA’s digital tools, including its e-catalog, in facilitating access to improved technologies. He highlighted CGIAR’s research and innovation strategies to achieve climate-resilient agriculture and promote the industrialization of priority value chains.
Speaking on the project, the PDC2V Project Coordinator, Bernard Kini Comoé, outlined Côte d’Ivoire’s ongoing agricultural and social development initiatives designed to strengthen food systems, enhance rural livelihoods, and advance value chain development. Key priorities include boosting production in cassava, vegetable, maize, rice, and aquaculture sectors alongside forestry policy reforms and agro-industrial development in the Bélier region. These efforts will also emphasize access to modern technologies, financing, infrastructure, quality planting materials, research support, nursery grower training, greenhouse innovations, and improved seed production systems.
“Our mission to IITA marks a significant step in reinforcing Côte d’Ivoire’s national research and extension systems. It lays the groundwork for strategic partnerships to address the need for modernizing subsistence agriculture,” Comoé remarked.
During the three-day visit, the delegation toured IITA’s research and innovation facilities, engaged in strategic discussions, and explored potential areas for collaboration under the PDC2V project. These engagements also form part of the broader strategy to establish 30 future Food Development Centres (CDVs) across all regions of Côte d’Ivoire, aimed at transforming food systems and enhancing rural economic development.
The visit underscored IITA’s capacity to support Côte d’Ivoire’s agricultural transformation via technology transfer, research collaboration, agri-entrepreneurship promotion, and capacity development. It concluded with an exchange of gifts and mutual expressions of appreciation. The PDC2V delegation commended IITA for its unwavering commitment to agricultural development across sub-Saharan Africa. Simultaneously, IITA reaffirmed its dedication to supporting impactful initiatives like PDC2V that align with the shared vision of transforming agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire and West Africa.
Contributed by Anita Akinyomade
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