By Adeyinka Adeniran
The Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Kayode Adebowale said the premier University, as a leading research institution, is uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role in addressing the challenges facing Africa’s food systems.
He made the statement in an address read on his behalf by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Administration, Professor Peter Olapegba at a public lecture.
Professor Adebowale said, by leveraging its expertise across disciplines, from agronomy, and plant science to economics and social policy, the University is able to tackle complex issues from multiple angles, using collaborative research, training future leaders, educating and empowering the next generation of agricultural experts, policymakers, and community advocates to drive meaningful change.
The Vice-Chancellor said the University would continue to strengthen its commitment to agricultural research and its transformative potential to unlock the full power of science and innovation to address the pressing challenges facing Africa’s food systems.
He said it was against this background that the public lecture was organised by the University to enable the audience to listen to an expert who has dedicated his life to food production on the continent of Africa.
The Lecture, Dr Kenton Dashiell, who is the Deputy Director General of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), spoke on was “Recent Experiences at IITA to Improve the Impact of Research on Improving Food Systems in Africa”.
Dr. Dashiell said the IITA has played a strategic role in CGIAR to revolutionize African food systems by partnering with African nations to adopt CGIAR developed technologies continent-wide.
He stated that IITA has been fully engaged in helping countries to develop their plans for transforming their agriculture/food systems.
According to Dr. Dashiell, the IITA, started a youth Agri-preneur movement, adding that it is now recognised as a key ingredient of many development investments.
He added that IITA’s Business Incubation Platform facilitates the private sector’s role in taking on Research for Development innovations and demonstrates at pilot scale, the economic viability of producing and developing specific science innovations.
He disclosed that the Institute had established a decentralised Hub structure with substantial investment in infrastructure and staff capacity saying that the hubs now facilitate linkages to governments and other partners as well as address key issues relevant for a subregion of Africa.
Dr. Dashiell also said in the last decade, IITA had invested substantially in office and laboratory infrastructure, provided access to state-of-the-art scientific equipment to attract state-of-the-art scientists and facilitate interactions with other Advanced Research Institutes.
