…Welcomes journalists
From GODWIN ATSER, Ibadan
The Global Cassava Partnership for the 21 century (GCP21) will hold a world conference on cassava in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, 11-15 June 2018.
The conference is the fourth in a series coming after previous ones in Bellagio, Uganda and China, and will feature the latest results from research and innovation in cassava value chain.
The conference draws the crème de la crème of the cassava sector cutting across research, policymakers, development partners, NARS, the private sector and farmers.
A part of the conference will be the exhibition of cassava products including cassava bread, cassava ethanol, cassava snacks, cassava flour, cassava starch, which is used for pharmaceutical products; and traditional products such as cassava fufu, yellow gari among others.
The world cassava conference is part of activities earmarked to raise awareness on the potential of the root crop which many term as ‘Africa’s white gold’.
This year’s conference is supported by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), National Institute of Agricultural Research of Benin (INRAB), Faculte des Sciences Agronomique – Universite Abomey-Calavi (FAS-AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research (CORAF/WECARD), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB), International Center for Agricultural Development (CIRAD), the Institute for Research & Development (IRD), French Embassy in Benin, French Institute, NIRSAL, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Cibus, China’s TAGRM, Inqaba Biotec, PRASAC, Interteck, Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System (BASICS), Sino-Food Machinery, OC, NextGen Cassava project, and CTA.