AfDB, IITA Sign $16m to Expand TAAT Phase 3, Target Millions of Nigerian Farmers

News in Brief: -The AfDB and the IITA have signed a $16.61 million agreement to scale up Phase III of the technologies for African transformation, expanding to 14 million additional farmers across 37 countries, including Nigeria.

-TAAT has generated over $4 billion in value, reached 24.9 million farmers, increased food production by 12 million metric tons, and helped reduce food import bills.

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) have signed a $16.61 million agreement to scale up Phase III of the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme, with Nigeria among 37 beneficiary countries.

Launched in 2018, TAAT aims to deploy high-yield and climate-smart technologies to over 40 million smallholder farmers across Africa by 2025. The programme focuses on ten priority commodities, including cassava, rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, livestock, and fisheries, value chains critical to Nigeria’s food security and import substitution drive.

Since its inception, TAAT has generated more than $4 billion in value, reached 24.9 million farmers, and covered more than 35 million hectares of farmland. Phase III seeks to expand its reach to an additional 14 million farmers, deepening technology adoption and strengthening national seed systems.

Strong Phase I Results

Speaking on the programme’s early gains, AfDB representative Innocent Musabyimana said TAAT rapidly expanded farmers’ access to proven technologies in its first phase. Within three years, the programme worked across 28 African countries, deploying 76 technologies across 15 crops, reaching 11 million farmers, and increasing food production by more than 12 million metric tons.

He added that TAAT helped participating countries cut food imports by an estimated $814 million, an outcome particularly relevant for Nigeria, which continues to combat high food import bills and inflation.

TAAT Programme Coordinator, Dr Chrys Akem, noted that 12 million farmers received drought-tolerant technologies, while 3.2 million households accessed improved NERICA rice varieties. Advanced rice types such as ARICA and SAHEL were also scaled across multiple agro-ecologies.

In wheat, TAAT supported the distribution of 65,000 metric tons of heat-tolerant seeds in Sudan, reducing imports by 50% within two years. In Ethiopia, wheat cultivation expanded dramatically, from 5,000 hectares in 2018 to 400,000 hectares within a few years, following seed support under the initiative.

TAAT II: Productivity Up, Incomes Lag

Under Phase II, TAAT has recorded strong productivity gains: cereals output rose by 58%, roots and tubers by 82%, vegetables by 65%, and fisheries by 113%. Seed system capacity building exceeded targets by 474%, while climate-smart technology delivery reached 133% of planned levels.

In Nigeria, activities under the cassava, rice, maize, wheat and livestock compacts have included seed roadmap development, establishment of innovation platforms, demonstration plots, and farmer training on climate-smart practices. The rice compact alone produced over 6,000 metric tons of certified seed, benefiting more than 162,000 farmers across the continent.

However, household income growth remains modest at 2.78%, and job creation, particularly for women and youth, lags behind expectations, prompting calls for stronger private sector engagement and faster value-chain activation.

With TAAT-III now underway, stakeholders say Nigeria stands to benefit significantly if improved seed systems, policy support and climate-resilient technologies are effectively scaled to farmers nationwide.