Delegates from the European Commission to Mali expressed interest in exploring new opportunities for collaborations with ICRISAT to improve food and nutrition security sustainably in the most vulnerable target areas of Mali. They discussed the progress made in implementation of the EU-APSAN-Mali project and also referred to ongoing discussions with World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) for new projects to strengthen European Union (EU) interventions in the agricultural sector in Mali.

1. Newsletter
Happenings
In-house version 19 March 2021, No.1898
Partnerships
The European Commission hopes for greater
collaboration to improve food and nutrition security
Delegates from the European Commission to Mali
expressed interest in exploring new opportunities for
collaborations with ICRISAT to improve food and
nutrition security sustainably in the most vulnerable
target areas of Mali. They discussed the progress made in
implementation of the EU-APSAN-Mali project and also
referred to ongoing discussions with World Agroforestry
(ICRAF) and The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) for
new projects to strengthen European Union (EU)
interventions in the agricultural sector in Mali.
Ms Ioana Albulescu, Team Leader–Green Inclusive
Growth, EU Delegation to Mali; and Mr Olivier Lefay,
Program Manager, Food Security, EU Delegation to Mali,
and focal point of the EU-APSAN-Mali project recently
visited ICRISAT’s research station in Samanko, Mali.
Meeting with Dr Ramadjita Tabo, they talked about the
evolution of the EU-APSAN-Mali Regional and Research
Program Director, West and Central Africa (WCA) project
in Kayes, Koulikoro, Ségou and Sikasso regions. They also
met the heads of the other centers along with other
representatives of World Agroforestry Centre and World
Vegetable Center. Mr Lefay reiterated an invitation to
Ms Agathe Diama, Smart Food Coordinator in WCA, to
make a presentation on the insights of the Smart Food
initiative to the EU during the next partners’ meeting in
April. He said that it would create an enabling
environment and inform partners about improving
nutrition in Mali.
Ms Albulescu and Mr Lefay discussed synergistic actions
with other partners and made plans for a subsequent
visit to beneficiaries of the projects for directly
interacting with them about the contribution of the
research centers on their livelihoods. Dr Tabo
highlighted the role of research centers in development
and scaling interventions in order to create broader
impacts.
Dr Baloua Nebie, Sorghum Breeder; Dr Aboubacar
Toure, Product Placement Lead; and Dr Hailemichael
Desmae, Groundnut Breeder and Regional Breeding
Lead; showed them around the sorghum and groundnut
off-season nurseries and seed production plots. The
delegation was briefed on the challenges in crop
production and commercialization in Mali; the ongoing
breeding modernization efforts at ICRISAT; and the
targeted breeding profiles in West and Central Africa
(particularly in Mali). They also visited the greenhouses
under renovation with funding from the European
Commission through the DeSIRA Program (EU-APSAN-
Mrs Sabine Togola, Research Technician (L) and Ms Ioana Albulescu, Team Leader-Green Inclusive Growth, EU Delegation
to Mali, during a visit to a sorghum field.
Photo: N Diakité, ICRISAT