ASTI’s booth attracted quite a bit of attention at CORAF/WECARD’s West and Central Africa Agricultural Science Week and General Assembly held in N’djamena, Chad, from 14-19 May. The event brought together stakeholders from around the region to discuss agricultural science and technology issues. Chad’s President Idriss Déby Itno (picture) and Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Djimé Adoum visited the ASTI booth and talked to ASTI Program Coordinator Gert-Jan Stads. The ASTI booth featured the region’s country notes and benchmarking study.

ASTI recently launched a new data collection round in West and Central Africa and expanded its country coverage in the subregion. Chad will be a new ASTI country and over the coming years, ASTI will be working closely with the Institut Tchadien de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (ITRAD) to monitor agricultural R&D investment and capacity trends in the country.