Ex-IFAD president becomes Agrorite board chairman

A former president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, has been appointed board chairman of Agrorite, an agro commodity exporter in Nigeria.

Nwanze was the fifth president of IFAD from 2009 to 2017 and a one-time Director-General at the Africa Rice Centre of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

He is now the FAO special goodwill ambassador on zero hunger for the Africa region. He serves on the boards of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the CGIAR system management board.

Commenting on this new status, Nwanze said: “I am very pleased to take on this role to join Agrorite in the pursuit of providing scalable solutions to reduce hunger in rural communities as a strategy for economic development. Agrorite will be dealing with the needs of clients, people and farmers in thoughtful and innovative ways, which will benefit all Agrorite’s stakeholders for many years to come.”

Nwanze, who is currently the Chairman, Board of Directors and Chief Executive of Facility for Youth Development (FAYODE), has amassed over four decades of professional experience, particularly, with the agricultural and social impact space and played a vital role in the introduction and promotion of new rice for Africa.

Speaking on the new development, Chief Executive Officer of Agrorite, Toyosi Ayodele, said: “Nwanze’s long history of leadership, coupled with his experience in various agricultural sections, makes him an ideal person for this role. I have high hopes that under your leadership, we will take Agrorite’s visions and goals to greater heights. This stride will propel and drive Agrorite’s vision of mitigating hunger and poverty in rural environments, beginning with the smallholder farmers of Africa.”

According to her, Agrorite is improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers by utilising data-driven technology to ensure fair trade of agro commodities and has onboarded over 150,000 smallholder farmers, giving them access to finance, smart advisory services and profitable market linkages.