Menu

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and Purdue University – a renowned American research university – are set to hold a conference on September 25-27. The conference, themed, Innovation in Agriculture: Scaling Up to Reach Millions, will hold at the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The conference will bring together about 300 individuals and organisations to address how to shift agricultural innovations from research institutions into the developing world, particularly Africa.

According to a statement by Purdue, many technologies and innovations for improving agriculture in the developing world have been developed or identified. However, it has been difficult to successfully scale up innovations to make them truly impactful and sustainable.

The conference will bring together researchers, implementing organisations, business community, policymakers, and donor community to discuss best practices for scaling up agricultural technologies. Participants will gain an understanding of successful, sustainable large-scale implementation of agriculture technologies.

Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB’s President and graduate of Purdue University, will be the keynote speaker at the conference. Together with the AfDB’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Jennifer Blanke, Akinwumi will be meeting the university’s management and other stakeholders on partnership opportunities, including the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative.

The TAAT, a key component of the AfDB’s Feed Africa Strategy, is a knowledge and innovation-based response to the recognized need for scaling up proven technologies across Africa with the aim of boosting productivity, and make Africa self-sufficient in key commodities.

“This will be the first multi-day conference on this topic that includes presentations, panel discussions, case studies, and breakout group discussions to help conference participants develop thorough understanding of how to scale up agricultural innovations to reach millions,” said Indrajeet Chaubey, Associate Dean and Director of International Programs for the College of Agriculture, Purdue University.

“In Purdue University, we work to develop solutions to real world problems in the College of Agriculture,” said Karen Plaut, Dean of the College of Agriculture. “The Scale Up Conference is about taking those technologies and applying them in the developing world.”

In addition to leading and managing large agricultural research and development projects over the last 60 years, graduates of Purdue University graduates have won the World Food Prize in the past 11 years.

The laureates are Philip Nelson, American food scientist, who won the prize in 2007 for his innovative breakthrough technologies in the large-scale storage and transportation of fresh fruits and vegetables using bulk aseptic food processing.

Dr Gebisa Ejeta, an Ethiopian geneticist, won the prize in 2009 for his sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and Striga weed. Akinwunmi Adesina won the prize in 2017 for his work at the Rockefeller Foundation, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and his role as former Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria.