The director general of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Simeon Ehui, says the development of rural communities was the panacea to poverty in Africa.

Mr Ehui stated this during the 2025 General Assembly and Annual Conference-Panel Discussion of the International Association of Ivorian Civil Servants, which ended at the IITA in Ibadan on Wednesday.

The director general said that African countries, including Nigeria, need to focus on the growth and development of rural communities to really reduce poverty.

Mr Ehui said that the agriculture sector accounted for about 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the gross domestic product of African countries, and therefore, development must be balanced between urban and rural areas.

“If there is growth taking place and that growth does not take place in the rural sector, we will not be able to reduce poverty. Therefore, we must focus on the rural sector to be able to reduce poverty,” he said.

Mr Ehui said that the growth rate in Côte d’Ivoire had been in the order of six per cent to seven per cent annually, and poverty had reduced significantly, but poverty still remained high in the rural communities.

This, he said, was the same for many African countries, including Nigeria.

According to him, there was a need to focus on youth empowerment in agriculture and make the sector more attractive to them, so they see it as a business rather than a subsistence activity.

Mr Ehui said that IITA had, over the past 10 years, engaged youth in agribusiness programmes that had been successful with donor funding.

He said IITA and the association could work together to offer strong incentives, primarily for youths, to use agriculture as a source of income, growth, and development, and to ensure food security.

(NAN)