The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has awarded a $16.6 million grant to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to launch the third phase of its African Agricultural Transformation Technologies (TAAT-III) program, deepening a continental push to bring climate-resilient agricultural innovations into the hands of millions of smallholder farmers across Africa.
The agreement, financed through the African Development Fund (ADF), the AfDB’s concessional lending window for low-income countries, was signed on February 18, 2026 in Abuja, Nigeria. The new phase builds on a program that, since its launch in 2018, has impacted nearly 25 million farmers, scaled up climate-resilient practices on more than 35 million hectares of farmland, and generated more than $4 billion in additional agricultural value across the continent.
TAAT has worked closely with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and national partners to increase crop yields in participating countries by 69%. Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe are among the countries that recorded significant increases in productivity of major crops in the early stages. In Nigeria, wheat farmers who adopted heat-tolerant varieties under the program Wheat Compact more than doubled their yields from 1.7 tonnes per hectare to 3.5 tonnes per hectare.
IITA Executive Director Simeon Efui said the new funding will enable the Institute to deepen its delivery of science-based solutions that improve farmers’ yields and livelihoods while strengthening the resilience and competitiveness of Africa’s food systems.
In its third phase, TAAT-III will move towards a more private sector-led delivery model, strengthen seed and technology distribution systems, and expand digital tools, including technology catalogs and real-time monitoring platforms. AfDB says the program is expected to reach an additional 14 million farmers in the 37 low-income and vulnerable countries supported by ADF.
AfDB Nigeria Country Director Abdul Kamara said at the signing ceremony that TAAT-III will strengthen systems that enable innovation, align agricultural transformation efforts with the Bank’s Four Fundamentals strategic priorities, and help countries improve productivity and build resilience at scale more efficiently.
The program also played a key role in AfDB’s Africa Emergency Food Production Facility, enabling the rapid deployment of improved seeds and agricultural technologies during the recent global food supply disruptions sparked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Ghana has had direct access to TAAT through the Soybean Compact, which supports agro-processing training for smallholder farmers in the northern region under TAAT-II. The new phase is expected to consolidate these achievements and integrate agricultural innovation into long-term national investment strategies across the continent.
