An IITA delegation consisting of the Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell; Director of the Development and Delivery Office, Alfred Dixon; and Coordinator of the TAAT Program Management Unit, Chrys Akem, held a collaborative meeting at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Ibadan, Nigeria. The delegation embarked on a facility tour after the late October meeting.
In his address, ILRI Country Representative in Nigeria, Tunde Amole, thanked IITA management for continually supporting them as a sister organization to IITA. “Thank you for the pull and push, always including us in your proposals and plans,” he said.
Amole noted that livestock is becoming attractive for youth in agriculture because of its quick turnaround and the current trend of finding a balance between crop and livestock. ILRI utilizes crop residue from plants harvested by farmers to make compact feed for livestock. Citing the massive potential of crop residue to serve as foliage feed for livestock, Amole said, “From a hectare of sorghum, which provides 3–4 tons of grain, we can get 12 tons of fodder that farmers can use to produce feed meal for ruminants and birds.”