AfDB injects $40m into agriculture development in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mali, others

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has injected an aggregate of $40 million seed fund into agriculture development projects in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mali and 24 other countries, under its

Technology for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative, Adeniyi Adediran, the TAAT coordinator for Nigeria Livestock Compact, has said at a forum convened by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Ibadan.

The fund is to be distributed among 15 sub-projects with nine compacts and six enablers. The livestock compact on poultry and small ruminants are already being undertaken in Ethiopia, Mali and Nigeria, where cassava skin are being converted to affordable livestock feed.

The projects, he said, were being managed by key partners in such organisations as the Business Innovation Facility (BIF), UKAID and the Department for International Development (DfID).
Adediran noted that TAAT was a component of the AfDB’s Feed Africa Big 5 Strategy meant to synergise stakeholders in the chosen sectors.

“The AfDB Feed Africa Big 5 strategy has the objectives to light up and power Africa, feed Africa, industrialise Africa, make Africa a net exporter of food, and make Africa technologically compliant.

Its goals are to ensure that 150 million people are adequately fed; 100 million people are lifted out of poverty and 190 million hectares of land to have their productivity restored.”

The coordinator stressed that the main objectives of TAAT are to raise agricultural production, facilitate effective delivery of technologies to farmers and create an enabling environment for technology adoption by farmers.

Tunde Amole, the ILRI country representative, said at the meeting that the major focus in South West Nigeria under TAAT is to promote High Quality Cassava Peels (HQCP) mash for the livestock industry.

He said that HQCP could be fortified and used to feed livestock especially poultry and pigs.