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Businesses, decision-makers, farmers, researchers and many other food system players will have the chance to see proven, cutting-edge innovations at the first-ever open day organized by the iREACH agricultural technology park, located in Bambey, 130 kilometers east of the Senegalese capital, Dakar. Around 120 participants are expected to attend the event on October 4, 2021.

The iREACH technology park is the result of over two years' work by a consortium of national, regional and international research and development players in West Africa. The park's overriding aim is to improve stakeholders' knowledge of existing technologies and avoid the usual low uptake of technologies and innovations.

"A technology park is a space where agricultural technologies and innovations are exhibited to enhance the knowledge of players in a value chain, with the overriding aim of improving production systems", explains Dr Niéyidouba LAMIEN, Program Manager at CORAF and current Acting Director of Research and Innovation.

The Centre d'Étude Régionale pour l'Amélioration de l'Adaptation à la Sécheresse (CERAAS) hosts the first agricultural technology park on its farm at the Centre National de Recherche Agronomique (CNRA) in Bambey. A second park will open in Ghana in the coming months - hosting the Regional Center of Excellence on Roots and Tubers. Other regional collaborating institutions include the Regional Centers of Excellence in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the U.S. Agency for International Development's Bilateral Missions and USAID's West Africa Regional Mission. USAID is funding this initiative.

Why technology parks?

Research institutes have developed many proven innovations. Yet many are not known to users, who are often farmers, growers, agri-traders and other businesses. In addition, researchers have many ways of scaling up technologies, including innovation platforms, agricultural fairs, digital platforms and so on. Drawing on other proven models experienced in other parts of the world such as Asia, key research players in West Africa have identified technology parks as a potential solution.

"There are many reasons for the low adoption of agricultural technologies and innovations. This may be due to the deficit or insufficient flow of knowledge between researchers and end-users, or a lack of physical or financial access to technology", argues Dr. Vara Prasad, Director and Professor Emeritus at SIIL. SIIL is one of the founding members of this initiative.

With this technology park, we can increase the adoption of agricultural innovations and contribute to the transformation of the agricultural economy."

Dr Vara Prasad, Director and Professor Emeritus at SIIL

iREACH is a new research coordination tool designed to organize, in the pilot phase, research activities funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Senegal.

Promoters of this initiative include CORAF (host) and the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL) at Kansas State University (KSU). While the first four years may focus on coordinating USAID-funded activities, it is planned to gradually expand to include other development agencies in West Africa.

Read also:

• iREACH holds pioneering Advisory Board meeting
• A West African research coordination center on the horizon
• "To have an impact, our investments in research must be increased", said a USAID official