IITA-Australia collaboration promises productive investments in agriculture

27 August 2024

IITA-CGIAR continues to open doors to increasing partnerships and collaboration for agricultural growth and development. On 19 August, we welcomed the Second Secretary of the Australian High Commission, Calum Walker, to the Institute's headquarters in Ibadan. His visit was to foster collaboration between IITA and the Australian government for specific interventions geared towards capacity development, research solution commercialization, and scaling.

The IITA Western Africa Director and Head of Genetic Resources Center, Michael Abberton, welcomed Calum Walker on behalf of the IITA Senior Management Team and introduced him to IITA's research focus areas, facilities, hubs, and stations. The brief meeting was followed by a familiarization tour of IITA-CGIAR's research offices, laboratories, and facilities: Genetic Resources Center (GRC), Germplasm Health, Virology & Diagnostic (GHVD) Laboratory, Cassava Processing Unit, and the Youth-In-Agribusiness Center.

Walker, who works with the Australian High Commission, a business and commercial liaison capacity in ABuja, said it was a pleasure to reenact collaborations with IITA since their last visit in 2021. He then assured the Australian government's commitment to invest and contribute to food security in Africa. He said, "Australia is looking to provide development funding in Africa towards agricultural research, focusing on food security cum resilience." He expressed his pleasure at being warmly received by IITA-CGIAR. He said that another set of Australian representatives will visit in December to explore areas of collaboration with IITA-CGIAR to drive agricultural transformation in Africa.

He also highlighted the possibility of identifying undergraduates for studies in Australia, as well as graduates for fellowship and MSc programs in agriculture, climate change, and food systems. These engagements look promising for expanding IITA's collaboration with Australia.

Kolade Olufisayo, a Molecular Geneticist at IITA, briefed Walker on IITA's GHVD work, saying, "We ensure the plant health status of the IITA crops mandate. Our work is to control and manage disease incidences in the movement of plant materials, inter and intra-country."

At the Cassava Breeding and Processing Center, Walker learned from Ismail Rabbi, IITA Molecular Geneticist and Breeder, that IITA's cassava breeding pipelines run in West, East, Central, and Southern Africa. Rabbi further explained that IITA's consistent work in breeding, processing, value addition, and seed systems development of the vital cassava crop and other mandate crops has been impressive over the years.

Ismail added that a team from the University of Queensland in Australia has been friends of IITA for a couple of years, helping to assess our breeding programs and providing recommendations for improvement. Abberton added that the mutual interests of IITA and the Australian High Commission will be represented in the anticipated collaboration and future engagements.

Contributed by Folake Oduntan

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