For more than five decades, IITA has collaborated with organizations and governments to help attain the Institute’s goals of combating food insecurity and reducing malnutrition and rural poverty. Continuing in this vein, the Bangladesh High Commissioner to Nigeria, His Excellency Mr Rahman Masudur, accompanied by his spouse, Mrs Dilmatara Masudur, visited IITA Headquarters on 2 February.
The visit aimed to explore collaboration opportunities with IITA, focusing on value addition to vegetables in Bangladesh. He also sought to understand the Institute’s collaborations with other countries in South-East Asia.
After the tour of facilities, the High Commissioner commended the Institute for their impressive work to ensure food security and safety by guaranteeing plants are protected from any viral disease. “I was able to distinguish between plants infected with a virus and virus-free plants,” he said excitedly.
In addition, he explained that since agriculture is the fulcrum of the economy, the Bangladesh government focuses on improving the scale of food production. This will lead to a diverse research portfolio and generate opportunities for the citizens.
The High Commissioner also explained what Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) does. He stated that there could be collaborations between IITA and Bangladesh Premier Research. He said: “We will employ modern technologies to find out the conditions of the soil, the approach of planting grains and other crops to improve the quality of the soil, and adopt disease resistance plants.” He added that producing cassava with its different end-products could be replicated in other parts of the tropical world.
He spoke with the Youth Agripreneurs about carrying-out research in vegetables and the different opportunities that could be generated.
Responding, IITA Deputy Director General Kenton Dashiell appreciated Mr Masudur for visiting the Institute and said he would connect him with the CGIAR South East Asia Regional Director. “We are looking forward to your return in Agribusiness and opportunities,” he stated.
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