APA-Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) Nestlé Côte d'Ivoire, a subsidiary specializing in agribusiness, renewed its partnership on agricultural research with the National Center for Agricultural Research (CNRA) on Wednesday in Abidjan in order to bring high-quality products to the market.

This partnership, which has existed since 2009, has been renewed after 11 years of collaboration, within the scientific and technical framework in order to research agricultural speculations falling within the firm's “mission”.

“We have just signed a framework contract, the second, with the CNRA” which has been working very closely with the Nestlé Research and Development Center in Abidjan since 2009, said Thomas Caso, managing director of Nestlé Côte d'Ivoire.

This new contract, signed between the parties at the subsidiary's research center in Yopougon, in western Abidjan, should make it possible to explore and build on the work that we have already carried out together on cocoa and coffee”, as well as other new sectors, he added.

In addition to coffee and cocoa, these two research structures should establish protocols to improve speculations such as cassava, beans, sorghum, millet and maize, used by the subsidiary, in order to derive the best nutritional elements for consumers.

For Mr. Thomas Caso, “good research requires partnership and we try (...) to gather around the best researchers in the area (West Africa), and the CNRA is the most recognized body in our region”.

Dr. Yté Wongbé, the director general of CNRA, welcomed this partnership, which shows the importance of the results of this Ivorian public structure, which is requested to sign agreements every year with other research structures around the world.

“We are making our cocoa varieties available to the subsidiary”, emphasized Mr. Wongbé, referring to a variety of this crop developed as part of the fight against the swollen shoot and “other hybrids that are ready to be able to enter the process of fighting this disease.”

The CNRA, he will continue, will work to provide them with a number of varieties, according to standards, that support the quality of the products based on these speculations; and that meet the development and transformation criteria of the agri-food group.

“It's about making the best varieties available to them,” noted Dr. Yté Wongbé, whose research center is currently developing a new coffee variety called “The Emerging Coffee” that will go into production within a year.

This sharing of experiences between these two research institutions aims to “explore very important sectors” and provide scientific answers on the development of certain speculations while developing nutrient-rich and high-quality products.