Mr
Germain Dasylva, FAO representative in Côte d’Ivoire, visited AfricaRice main
research station at M’bé, near Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire on 20 April 2017 to get a
more comprehensive understanding of AfricaRice's research-for-development
activities and discuss areas for further collaboration. He was accompanied by
Ms Antoinette Ziehi, FAO consultant.
The
FAO delegation was warmly welcomed by Dr Olupomi Ajayi, designated by
AfricaRice Deputy Director General Dr Eienne Duveiller to coordinate the
arrangements for the visit.
Dr
Ajayi gave an overview of AfricaRice activities and achievements, which was
followed by presentations from AfricaRice experts on scalable rice technologies
developed by AfricaRice, such as RiceAdvice decision support tool, ASI ricethresher, GEM parboiling technology and rice briquettes. A short presentation
on the impact of AfricaRice technologies and innovations was also made.
Mr
Dasylva greatly appreciated the scalable technologies, recognizing their
importance for Africa. He advocated wider dissemination though promotional
efforts at high-level meetings and agricultural exhibitions. FAO plays a key
role in fostering partnerships for tackling issues of food insecurity, poverty
reduction and sustainable agriculture.
Mr Dasylva was particularly interested to learn
about the various types of technical support that AfricaRice provides to its
member countries, particularly relating to varietal release and availability of
seed. “This is because FAO would like to support small-scale lowland rice
farmers to enable Côte d’Ivoire to exploit its huge potential of lowland,”
explained Dr Ajayi.
FAO is an important development partner of
AfricaRice. The two organizations have signed a MoU for scientific and
technical cooperation in consolidating sustainable rice systems development in
Africa during the 29th session of the FAO Regional Conference for Africa, in
April 2016, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.