Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole; Director General, I ITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga; and the Director of Policy and Program, World Food Programme, Mr Stanlake Samkange in Abuja. |
There are negative consequences if Africa continued to pay lip
service to agriculture, and failed to invest in the sector, the Director
General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr
Nteranya Sanginga has warned.
Addressing members of the Board of Trustees of IITA and
researchers during the 2016 Partnership for Development Week (P4D Week) in
Ibadan that ended on Friday, Dr Sanginga said the neglect of agriculture would
cost $110billion in terms of food imports by 2025 to feed Africans up from the
current $35bn.
Besides, a failure to invest in agriculture would deprive the
continent of necessary jobs and further fuel the spiraling rate of unemployment
among the youth on the continent.
The director general acknowledged that though some African
governments have come to the realization that agriculture was one of the ways
to save the continent from the mess, most countries were not investing enough
in the sector.
“Take for instance, the commitment to invest at least 10 percent
of national budgets to agriculture. Not many countries are meeting this goal,”
Dr Sanginga said.
He commended the African Development Bank for the new initiative Technologies
for African Agricultural Transformation to transform agriculture on the
continent.
He explained that the TAAT program is a new initiative of the African
Development Bank (AfDB) in collaboration with the Consultative Group on
International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) under the Feed Africa Initiative to
drive agriculture development on the continent.
Through the TAAT program, the Bank aims to invest more than $800
million in the agricultural sector. The funds would be channeled into upscaling
of proven innovations that will improve the fortunes of farmers and address the
twin problem of food insecurity and unemployment.
Dr Sanginga also reiterated IITA’s commitment to supporting
African smallholder farmers in the context of agribusiness such that agriculture
transcends food for the fork to money in the pocket.
According to him, IITA will continue to respond to the needs of
Africa by developing innovations that will provide answers to Africa’s food
insecurity. To this end, IITA will be demonstrating its scientific leadership
not only in terms of qualitative research in the lab, but also impact in
farmers’ fields.
Dr Sanginga who began his second tenure earlier this year said
that IITA’s priority for the future would focus on research, capacity development,
partnerships, impact at scale, and most importantly delivery.
The director general said IITA’s internal reorganization had put
the Institute in a better position to address the challenges confronting Africa
more than ever before.
He called on researchers to redouble their efforts and commitment
to the ideas, mission and vision of the Institute which includes lifting out of
poverty of 11 million Africans and the reclamation of 7.5 million hectares of
degraded land and putting them into sustainable use.
Chair of IITA Board of Trustees, Prof Bruce Coulman commended Dr
Sanginga for the efforts in repositioning IITA for the challenges ahead,
stressing that the Board was convinced that “IITA is in safe hands.”
He emphasized that IITA would continue to support Africa in
achieving the goal of eradicating hunger and poverty in Africa.
The P4D Week is an annual event that brings together more than 200
international researchers working for IITA across the world to review, share
experiences and plan for the way forward.
Deputy Director General, Partnership for Delivery, Dr Kenton
Dashiell said the P4D week’s emphasizes for the year was not just on research
but also on delivery at scale.
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