By Ibrahim Muhammad
The Jigawa State Government, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), to revolutionised Cassava, Soybean, maize value chains.
This was contained in a press statement signed by Director General of the Jigawa Agricultural Transformation Agency (JATA) issued to newsmen.
He said , the partnership stems from productive discussions initiated during the Africa Food Systems Summit in Dakar.
Governor Umar Namadi emphasized the significance of the collaboration, said the agreement seals a strategic partnership focused on advancing agricultural science and innovation to drive a revolution across the cassava, soybean, and maize value chains in Jigawa State.
According to him “𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝐹𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑆𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑆𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝐷𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑟. 𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝. 𝑊𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒—𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒—𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑑𝑠. 𝑊𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝐽𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑤𝑎, 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦.”
The Director General of the Jigawa Agricultural Transformation Agency (JATA), who signed the MoU on behalf of the State Government, reinforced the commitment.
He said, the MOU covers critical areas, including, 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐏𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐒𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡,𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
He said, the development aligns with the Jigawa State Administration’s 12-Point Agenda, which prioritizes Food Security, Job Creation, and Private Sector Investment.
On his part Dr. Simeon Ehui, the Director General of IITA and Regional Director for Africa, CGIAR, welcomed the partnership as a strong foundation for impactful collaboration.
The MoU will remain in force for a period of 5 years , setting the stage for a long-term strategic partnership to build a resilient and prosperous agricultural future for the people of Jigawa.
