Nigeria, Rwanda, Others to Benefit from €5m Grant for Climate Smart Agriculture 

Dike Onwuamaeze 

Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi have been listed as beneficiaries of €5 million Euro grant to strengthen the delivery of climate-smart agricultural technologies across Africa.

In furtherance of this objective, the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) convened a high-level Work Planning Meeting under its Phase II Addendum in Rwanda last week to strengthen its delivery.

TAAT, with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), brought together key stakeholders, including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), CGIAR Centres, Advanced Agricultural Research Institutes (AARIs), National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES), government representatives, private-sector actors, and development partners.

A major highlight of this phase is the implementation of a €5 million grant from Germany, administered through the AfDB’s Transition Support Facility (TSF Pillar IV). 

The funding will support activities in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, and Nigeria.

A statement by the AfDB said that the Work Planning Meeting would seek to review and validate the Work Plan and Budget, finalise implementation arrangements, and strengthen collaboration among partners to ensure effective rollout of programme activities.

The key areas of focus include strengthening seed systems, building institutional and technical capacity, promoting youth engagement in agriculture, and expanding digital advisory solutions to enhance productivity and climate resilience.

In his remarks at the opening and signing ceremonies, the Chief Agricultural Technologies Officer at the AfDB, Mr. Innocent Musabyimana, affirmed that TAAT remained central to delivering the African Development Bank Feed Africa vision.

“Strong partnerships are key to scaling agricultural transformation, and this meeting is about moving from planning to accelerated action,” Mr Musabyimana said.

The representative of the IITA Management at the event and Country Representative for Rwanda, Mr. Matieyedou Konlambigue, applauded TAAT’s commitment to African food systems transformation, noting the production and dissemination of over 309,000 MT of certified seeds to millions of farmers across the continent.

“TAAT has demonstrated success in strengthening seed systems across Africa, and now we need to scale with speed, promote sustainability, and align implementation and accountability commitments to delivering measurable impact for farmers,” he added.

The acting Coordinator of the TAAT Programme Management Unit, Ms. Rachel Zozo, stated that the TAAT Phase II Addendum grant will focus on bolstering strategic investment in the six countries, with a view to building their capacity, resilience, and innovation, while addressing fragility concerns through strengthened food systems.

“Our priorities in this phase will be to strengthen seed systems and early generation seed (EGS) production, empower youth and institutions, scale digital agriculture solutions, and enhance collaboration across public and private sectors,” Zozo added.

Speaking on the importance of the initiative, stakeholders at the event emphasised that strengthening partnerships and investing in local capacity are critical to reducing Africa’s vulnerability to global agricultural shocks and ensuring long-term food security.

The meeting resulted in finalised implementation plans, strengthened partnerships, and a signed sub-grant agreement between the Government of the Republic of Rwanda, the African Development Bank, and the TAAT Programme, represented by the IITA.

The agreement, which sought to facilitate rapid execution of activities across all four components of TAAT II, with a strong focus on capacity building for key stakeholders in the six countries, would support strengthening the seed systems in the target countries, capacity building for National Agricultural Research Systems and the private sector to produce early generation seeds, technical capacity building for young professionals in National Agricultural Research Extension Institutions, and build target countries capacity in digital advisory solutions for extension, climate information and input distribution.