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CORAF and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will enable them to pool their efforts to combat poverty and improve the well-being of populations in West and Central Africa, more specifically in semi-arid zones.

The signing took place at ICRISAT headquarters in Hyderabad, India, at the end of March 2022, between CORAF Executive Director Dr Abdou TENKOUANO and ICRISAT Director General Dr Jaqueline HUGHES. 

ICRISAT is an international research institute that conducts agricultural research to develop and improve the production, productivity and nutritional quality of sorghum, millet, pigeon pea, chickpea and groundnut grown in semi-arid tropical zones.

The Memorandum focuses on strengthening cooperation between scientists and researchers from the two institutions. 

"The Memorandum of Understanding just signed between CORAF and ICRISAT will provide a framework for close collaboration between scientists from both organizations, who can easily join forces and collaborate on research projects addressing common priorities and challenges," says CORAF Executive Director Dr Abdou TENKOUANO. 

The scope of the Memorandum includes a number of areas including, but not limited to, crop improvement and varietal development, traditional and molecular breeding, digital agriculture, climate change resilience, technology dissemination and capacity building.

Within the framework of this Memorandum, the two institutions also agree to jointly seek funding opportunities through project proposals.

With this in mind, CORAF's Executive Director stresses that "the Memorandum between CORAF and ICRISAT will help implement CORAF's new Strategic Plan 2018-2027, as it covers several areas that align with this Strategic Plan".

"The strengthened cooperation between ICRISAT and CORAF researchers, thanks to this agreement, will enable the development of technologies and innovations that will help the populations of West and Central Africa, particularly those in semi-arid zones, to better face the many challenges of agriculture and enjoy better living conditions."

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed for a period of five (05) years. 

However, CORAF and ICRISAT have been working together for several years on a number of projects.

For example, while ICRISAT implements the project Amélioration de la productivité des cultures et de la résistance au climat pour la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle(APSAN-Mali), CORAF implements the project Renforcement des réseaux et des capacités institutionnelles en amélioration des plantes pour le développement de cultures résilient répondant aux besoins des paysans d'Afrique de l'Ouest(ABEE), As both projects are funded by the European Union, the two organizations were quick to identify the strong synergies between the two projects and collaborate to achieve their objectives.

"ICRISAT is an important partner with which CORAF has always enjoyed collaborating, and we are delighted that this agreement provides a new framework for continuing this collaboration, for the well-being of the populations of the regions that the two institutions cover", concludes Dr Abou TENKOUANO.