IITA has signed a partnership agreement to help Guinea in the production and promotion of cassava, maize, cowpea and soybean value chains. The agreement also involves improvement of the livestock value chain, for which IITA will help the country link up with livestock value chain actors including the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
The signing of the agreement follows recent interactions between IITA Ambassador Olusegun Obasanjo and the Guinean government in which the leadership of the West African country sought solutions on how to move the country’s agriculture forward. Chief Obasanjo then got in touch with IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga. The agreement between IITA and Guinea will allow IITA to deploy its agricultural expertise to that country and help increase agricultural productivity with the ultimate goal of improving livelihoods and wealth creation.
IITA will also mobilize other development partners, both local and international to help accelerate Guinea’s agricultural growth, cutting across the value chains of key staples including livestock.
With a population of about 10 million, Guinea shares its northern border with Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, and its southern border with Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast. Its economy is agricultural and mineral dependent, and the country is the world’s second largest producer of bauxite, with rich deposits of diamonds and gold.
Despite the rich mineral resources, the country is diversifying and placing greater attention on agriculture to drive and achieve sustainable development. In fact, the government is eager to increase food production by intensifying the production systems sustained by the application of improved technologies.
To fast-track the take-off of activities, Dr Gbassey Tarawali, Representative of the DG & DDG PCD, with colleagues in IITA- Sierra Leone (Drs Braima James and James Abaka-Whyte) worked together to refine the Aide Memoire and developed a memor andum of agreement between IITA and the Guinea Ministry of Agriculture.
IITA intends to apply a similar agricultural research-for-development model which has helped a country such as Nigeria to top cassava-producing countries in the world.
“We hope this is a step in the right direction to help Guinea and other countries in the Mano River Union,” says DG Sanginga.
For more information, please contact: Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org or Andrea Gros, a.gros@cgiar.org
About IITA www.iita.org
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is one of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Its award-winning research for development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 in Nigeria and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana/plantain, yam, cassava, and maize. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.
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