The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) Nigeria hosted a team from her Ivorian counterpart to explore technologies and innovations in Agriculture for possible adoption.
Led by the deputy coordinator WAAPP Cote d’Ivoire, Jean Paul Long, the team visited the NOBEX Nigeria LTD, specialized in Mango dryer manufacturing, a technology which WAAPP-Nigeria itself had imported from Burkina Faso in line with the spirit of Regional integration.
In partnership with NOBEX, WAAPP-Nigeria had been able to redesign the machine to a world class standard. The new machine is now multifunctional to adequately dry not just mangoes but also pineapple, tomato. It has been also develop a flash dryer to produce cassava flour, maize flour and plantain flour.
For the chief Executive officer Engineer Idowu Adeoya, the ingenuity in the technology generated is to add value to agricultural productivity by significantly reducing post-harvest losses and thereby increase farmers’ income. Which is in line with the objective of WAAPP in ensuring reduction of poverty in the sub-region through scientific research.
The team was also at Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), one of the three institution of the National Centre of Specialisation in Aquaculture (NCoS) and also a propose centre for Regional Centre of Excellence in Aquaculture (RCoE), where the improved fish smoking kiln technology was also demonstrated for the Ivorian visiting team.
Addressing the delegation, Dr Gbola Akande, the Executive Director of NIOMR, made a call for the extension of phase 2 of the programme which he said will up scaled the existing achievement already attained by WAAPP-Nigeria.
The leader of the Cote d’Ivoire delegation, Jean Paul Long described as fruitful and rewarding the visit to Nigeria as a result of a regional cooperation on knowledge and technology transfer.
The WAAPP delegation from Cote d’Ivoire, which was very satisfied with the technologies visited, placed an order for twenty (20) units of the FISH SMOKING KILN.
The team also visited an entrepreneur, PROTHRIVE, also in Lagos, who are using NOBEX’s machines such as the FLASH DRYER to produce an improved traditional porridge known as “AKAMU” or “KUNU”.
The Executive Officer Mrs Oluyemisi Obe commended the machine manufactured by NOBEX Nigeria LTD, for its high quality while commending the collaboration between WAAPP and NOBEX as a great asset for boosting local content-driven business.
