Vanguard, FRIDAY, MAy 20, 2011 -
47
BU~IN~~~fHPORl
;,
" _'. . , 路:"!'If:;;.
-lc'~ ,':.
SEMINAR - From left: Mrs. Omowunmi Osibo, NEPC Director it n.OD, Product Development, representing the ED/CEO of JlfEPC, DavId I. AduJugba, Mr. Romeo Berberopolous, Chairman, MAN EXPort Group, and Mr. Mus;' fusuJ, DG of LCCL
IITA delivered 70% total CGIAR impact in Africa BY DANIEL GUMM
institute was working towards, diversifying its support base, but maintained that CGIAR BOUT 70 per cent was one of the ,of the Impact by supporters. the Consultative, Group To help the Institute in on International this direction, UTA has Agricultural ' Research been doing a few things; (CGIAR) in Africa came 'the director-general told from research outpllts by the alumni, group . Last the Internahonal yea~ , ' ,Innovation Institute of ' Tropical AfricaTM (Research Park Agriculture (IITA) , for Africa) was created to Ibadan, according to the help capture more latest ' Impact scientific synergy. Assessment of the "The physical facilities CGIAR's Science , should be ready by June Council. ' " The 2007 assessment, , 2 012. We are building a which is still the latest" coalition cif thiee centres serve' Africa 's crop from the ,archives, notes to' needs. II that the value of the "We are working on a impac.t/benefit, was Pan-African wide greater ,than' the ' t<;lt,al CGIAR investment in African sme;, 197 L ' "That is ' something to be really proud of," said IITA Duector- General :Dr. Peier Hartmann at a " 'reUnion forum with formei1ITA st~f in Bali, ROM the launch of 'IndonesIa. ' the ,new Global 'According to him, 60 Shea Alliance, 'GSA, in , per 'cent ,of , the maize Accra, Ghana, to th,e grown ' in West and grafting ' of shea trees to Central Africa today a' bu's iness-to-business comes from UTA forum, " Shea 2011: varieties. Sustainable Solutions," The ,director-general connected hundreds of ' 'also noted that IITA had shea stakeholders from remained a v~ry ~ta9le ' across West Africa and institute. ," , around the world to each , "It goes , for .nothing , ' other ' and the 'sexy and does not play , information they need to the latest faShion game. grow the industry. It does the basic , Shea connects roillions steadily , , and of people _ from at least ' consistently. That is its four million women in 'force. This works," he West Africa, who collect said , " , an!i'o[ process shea nuts Hartmann was quick to into shea butter to mention that the success hundreds of millions of 'being 'recorded by the con's umers, in instiiute was a result of intern'a tional markets . the commitment and The use of shea in foundation laid by the ' chocolate candy, former staff. ' including ' the most' He stessed that the popular brands of present mal)ageIIjent chocolate candy bars in never reinvented tbe, the U .S , and Europe" -wheel. "We did not have mean many, experience " t~ undii anythin:g . We it almost daily. just,had to build on wljat With the fonnallaunch yo.u al). had built. So it of the Global Shea was enjoyable;" he Alliance at Shea 2011, added. ' con!lecting the people On the,CGIAR reforms across the value chain is and' the 'future of UTA, now the pursuit of the Hartman.n said the GSA.
A
instrument' to help nations tackle biological threats (p ests ., and diseases) . "We are producing more . cOln mercial products, We h ave just released AfiaSafe against Aflatoxins . The Gates FoundatlOn is helping us sef-k fimis to produce it commercially. We are cluste ring UTA scientists i ll fewer locations , (hul .,). so we can support th em better. In sh ort, w e are' investing in I1TA:s future," he, explained. Hartmann commended tlie former staff for keeping th~ association running, stressing that such a commitment is remarkablE) .
Shea confab puts people, planet, profit on spotlight
F
The cO!lference was preceded by two days of export ,training proVlded by experts from across the value ' chain , The more than 250' shea stakeholders from Benin, Burkin" Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, 'Ghana, Guinea, -Mali, ' Niger, ,Nigeria, Seriegal, South Sudan, Togo and Uganda, learned how to produce ,natural cosmetics, develop and publish a website, prepare a bankable application for' a loan from a commercial bank and other 'financial. institutions and reduce the costs of shipping and logistics . Global climate change has refocused mankind.'s efforts around the world to ensure human activity does not contribute to historically high levels , of carbon: dioxide in the atmosphere and , prese'r ve and promote environments that hold carbon 's o-called "carbon sinks ," Shea trees are a perfect example of a big win on both , fronts.