Young Africans will attend a post-harvest cassava specialization workshop in Brazil. The training takes place through the Youth Technical Training Program (YTTP), which has been consolidated as one of the main technology transfer programs between Brazil and the African continent, strengthening the South-South cooperation policy. YTTP has been held by the Brazil Africa Institute (IBRAF) since 2017 and has the support of Embrapa. This year, the Rural Enterprises Program (REP) and the Ghana Agricultural Sector Investment Program (Gasip) are also supporting.
The initiative aims to promote knowledge exchange and generate economic stimulus considering that the plant is used on the continent as a subsistence crop as well as commercially. During the course, young people from various nations of Africa learn about the practices and techniques of Brazilian cassava agriculture and can apply them in their reality.
This year, about 26 young people from (13) Ghana, (6) Malawi and (7) Nigeria will be attending the training. According to the president of IBRAF, João Bosco Monte, the YTTP brings the opportunity to create a relationship between Brazil and Africa in the areas of training and capacity building, as well as knowledge sharing.
“As a professor, I know we need to work with the youth in order to go further as a global community. In this case, the YTTP comes up with the purpose of training young Africans, bringing them to Brazil and creating ties of cooperation,” he explains.
Considered by the United Nations (UN) as the food of the 21st century, cassava stands out for a great source of nutrients. In addition, growing in low rainfall soils, it turns out to be one of the sub-Saharan African crops, with Nigeria being its largest global producer.
The program will include men and women, from 18 to 35 years old, and will take place between November 4th and 13th, in Cruz das Almas, State of Bahia, and will be finalized at the Brazil Africa 2019 Forum, which will take place on the 12th and 13th. November in Sao Paulo.