IITA - International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
IITA - International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
20/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 20/08/2024 11:48
Angola to boost smallholder farmers’ productivity with IITA technologies
20 August 2024
Angolan delegates from the Institute for Agrarian Development (IDA) visited IITA-CGIAR headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria, from 5 to 9 August. The visit was strategically aimed at bolstering partnership with IITA to deliver proven technologies and support to smallholder farmers in Angola.
The World Bank-funded Smallholder Agricultural Transformation Project (MOSAP 3), which is currently running in Angola, seeks to increase smallholder farmers' productivity per hectare. Hence, it is seeking collaboration with IITA to deliver all-round solutions for farmers in their Farmer Field Schools.
IDA Director General Felismino da Costa said the various crop improvement solutions, capacity development, and technological packages available in IITA meet the aspirations of the Angolan government, especially for youths and women involved in crop and livestock farming in Angola. Some of their identified intervention directions are maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, beans, and livestock.
Responding to the team's need to improve seed production for smallholder farmers in Angola, Mercy Diebiru Ojo, IITA Cassava Seed Systems Specialist, said IITA has developed models that combined technology packages for seed production, value addition, and digital technologies for monitoring different crops. These aim to improve productivity, food security, and climate solutions in agriculture.
The team's visit to Niji Farms and Psaltry Factory exposed the delegates to user-friendly technology solutions suitable for smallholder farmers. Chrysantus Akem, the TAAT Coordinator at IITA, said: "We are already engaged in Angola through the TAAT program-an all-inclusive package for technology deployment covering a wide range of crops and collaboration with sister institutes. The TAAT model can also be adopted in Angola. Your interests in other food components will also be well attended to through our sister partners, riding on the TAAT delivery system."
Following their weeklong visits to cassava-producing and processing stations within and outside IITA, da Costa said, "We are developing our approach in two ways: we count on IITA's support to rehabilitate our farmer field schools and replicate the IYA model of youth empowerment in agriculture in Angola."
For quick take-offs, the team requested IITA deliver technological packages to their field farmers, who will be deployed to replicate these technologies in their fields in September. Consequently, a tripartite agreement between IITA, IYA, and IDA was agreed upon as the first step to implementation preceding host country agreements.
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Contributed by Folake Oduntan