UI Becomes TETFund Centre of Excellence in Agriculture

The University of Ibadan has been designated as a TETFund Centre of Excellence (TCoE) in Agriculture.

According to Reports, the information was officially communicated to the Vice Chancellor, Professor Kayode Oyebode Adebowale in a letter dated Friday 16 September, 2022 signed by the Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Dr Yemi Akinbamijo.

This feat was achieved through a presentation by the Vice Chancellor to stakeholders, at a meeting held in Abuja.

Professor Adebowale had argued that the Centre was a necessary condition for UI to implement the Agricultural Research and Innovation for Africa (ARIFA) programme and it was approved.

UI will join the list of TETFund Centres of Excellence in Agriculture across the country. Other Centres include the University of Lagos, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, University of Calabar, and Bayero University, Kano. The Centre will host the Agricultural Research and Innovation Fellowship for Africa (ARIFA) programme.

Since 2020, the TETFund has been funding ARIFA through the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the technical arm of the African Union Commission and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA), with a goal of systematically infusing a new crop of academics into tertiary institutions. The aim of the programme is to deliver commensurate competencies in Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D).

The partnership leverages the best practice of the South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) strategy of FARA to contribute to building a knowledge-based economy through TETFund Centers of Excellence (TCoE) across the country.

The ARIFA programme targets five hundred (500) Fellows drawn from a cohort of Nigerian tertiary institutions to undertake tailor-made MSc and PhD programmes in various fields of sciences related to agriculture in Brazilian Universities led by the Brazilian Federation of International Education (FAUBAI) and the Universidad Federal de Viçosa (UFV) – Federal University of Viçosa.

The programme will involve the establishment of the ARIFA Innovation Platform (IP) to serve as the science-business mechanism for delivering livelihoods to host communities. It will be managed by the ARIFA Fellows upon return to Nigeria.