Jean Ekwe Dossa speaking at the TAAT Rice Compact Launch: Project Kick-Off Workshop

Dr Jean Ekwe Dossa, IFDC Agronomist/Soil Scientist, speaking at the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) Rice Compact Launch: Project Kick-Off Workshop, 6-7 Sep 2018, AfricaRice M’bé Research Station, Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire.

Rice Value Chain Compact of AfDB-funded TAAT initiative launched to help scale up proven rice technologies in Africa

The Rice Value Chain Compact of the African Development Bank (AfDB)-funded “Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT)” initiative was officially launched, 6-7 September 2018, at the AfricaRice Research Station in M’bé near Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire. The TAAT Rice Value Chain Compact will contribute to the AfDB ‘Feed Africa’ initiative through enhanced deployment of impactful technologies, innovations and products in the rice value chain.

Partners along the rice value chain from 10 African countries attended the project launch to discuss the implementation plan at country level, the technologies that will be deployed and the approaches and strategies for scaling up the technologies. Implementation will start in Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda, with spill-over in Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea in the first year.

As part of the program, the participants had a guided tour of AfricaRice demonstration plots, seed multiplication, the postharvest and processing facility and the Genetic Resources Unit. The visit allowed them to see some of the technologies that have been selected for scaling up through the TAAT Rice Compact.