INFPA
l’Institut National de Formation Professionelle Agicole (the National Institute of Agricultural Vocational Training, INFPA), is a public Ivorian knowledge and training institute for agriculture that has five vocational schools in the country and reports to the Ministry of Agriculture. The vegetable training and demo centre will be based at the INFPA Centre close to Yamoussoukro. The facilities of INFPA, which include classrooms, a cantina, dormitories and offices, will be shared and INFPA staff will benefit from the trainings and field days.
On an institutional level, l’Institut National de Formation Professionelle Agicole (INFPA) is our major local counterpart and an official partner in the consortium. INFPA is a public education institute under the Ministry of Agriculture with various schools and centres across the country, including in Tiébissou close to Yamoussoukro. INFPA has indicated their interest to participate in the project, both through its director Mr. Onanga Berthe, as well as the management of the school and local officials including the mayor in Tiébissou. The school already has many facilities in place, including classrooms, a dormitory for 200 students and a lot of empty land around the centre. Moreover, there is already a vegetable farming project going on plein champs, but not hors sol yet, which INFPA is very eager to get and which the project can provide in combination with the construction of ABRI’s. While INFPA Tiébissou can provide many facilities, the project and the consortium can provide expertise on commercial vegetable farming, best practices, quality inputs and additional infrastructure, including ABRI’s. Moreover, INFPA can provide students that can be trained in the centre during the project span (and beyond) and help to organize visits to the centre for demonstration days.