(Business in Cameroon) - The Institut de Recherche Agricole pour le Développement (IRAD – Agricultural Research Institute for Development), main organisation dedicated to agricultural research in Cameroon, will soon sign a partnership agreement with the University of Udine in Italy, in order to set up collaboration mechanisms on coffee research.
According to Omer Gatien Malédy, Executive Secretary of the Inter-professional Cocoa and Coffee Council (CICC - Conseil interprofessionnel du cacao et du café), who recently revealed this information during a meeting in Yaoundé, this partnership is one of the results of the last economic mission led by Cameroonian operators working in the coffee sector in Italy, during the Universal Exposition of Milan.
According to the same source, the partnership between the University of Udine and IRAD is timely, as the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (Centre de coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - CIRAD), which was until now IRAD’s partner on coffee research, is gradually withdrawing from research in Africa.
The University of Udine, through its coffee research unit, already features amongst the main facilitators of the Coffee University established in Italy by the company Illycaffè, presented as one of the best processors of Espresso coffee worldwide.