The West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF / WECARD) sponsored the International Symposium on the Science and Technology organized by the National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research ((CNRST) of Burkina Faso from 24 to 28 October 2016. Themed “Putting into use research outputs on key sectors: livestock, meat, corn, mango, millet, cowpeas, onions, rice, sorghum, tomatoes, local poultry” this forum is part of the implementation of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP/PPAAO).

The core objective of the symposium was to present research outputs and technologies generated or introduced by WAAPP/PPAAO in Burkina Faso to the international scientific community. According to Dr. Roger Nebié, General Delegate of the CNRST, “This is to create an exchange and sharing based framework of WAAPP/BF agricultural commodities and critical analysis of research outputs in order to promote technology transfer from research institutes to stakeholders involved in production, processing, marketing of agricultural products and policymakers to strengthen the adoption of these technologies.”

As patron of this symposium, Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD, thanked the scientific community for the confidence they have placed in hi humble person and institution before commending the efforts of the National Centre of Specialization on Fruits and Legumes based in Burkina Faso and supported by WAAPP, which he called a “success story both in terms of achieving the development goals and technology transfer.”

In terms of technology transfer with other beneficiary countries, the NCoS on Fruits and Legumes introduced in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria, the dried mango technology to support agricultural entrepreneurs. It has also introduced the  technology on winter-tomato production in Mali and the Gambia. Similarly, Burkina Faso imported breeds from Niger and plantain varieties from Côte d’Ivoire. The Executive Director of CORAF/WECARD also mentionned the solidarity of Burkina in joining other WAAPP countries to mobilize seeds for Ebola-affected countries.

As potent subregional integration tools in West Africa, National Centres of Specialization for CORAF/ WECARD, the institution also presented at the symposium, models for regional agricultural integration and cooperation towards value chains actors of priority commodities to strenghen mobility of agricultural development specialists, technologies and knowledge sharing within and between countries.

A realization of the Sub-regional solidarity and integration of peoples through the pooling of human and financial resources and infrastructure that would return too expensive for individual countries.