Gilbert Ekugbe
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to invest massively in innovations that would boost food production in the country.
Director General IITA and Regional Director for CGIAR in Africa, Dr. Simeon Ehui, also enjoined the Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Abubakar Kyari, to work collaborate with the IITA to adopt innovations that would change the narrative in Nigeria’s food systems.
Ehui revealed that IITA’s technologies and those of other CGIAR centers are available to contribute to Nigeria’s agricultural landscape, but noted that Nigeria alone could not address issues existing in the sector.
Expressing IITA willingness to provide support through its various projects and innovations that could be scaled by the ministry, the director general said that the institute valued the strong support of the Nigerian government and would like to align with the national programmes.
He said: “I would like for the national programmes to be key partners with IITA, leveraging the research innovations to address food insecurity in Nigeria.”
In his welcome remarks, the minister revealed that the visit came at a time when the ministry is exploring proven ways to turn around food systems in the country, adding that there is a need to look at sustainable strategies that would help initiate strong institutionalised policies.
He said: “With IITA’s grounded agricultural research, the ministry is ready to collaborate with the institute to address food insecurity.”
Commending IITA’s research impact in Africa, Kyari expressed the need to explore agriculture as a business to create investment opportunities for more people.
He added that the way forward would be for both parties to develop a strategy paper covering long, medium, and short-term targets.
