IITA News

DG Sanginga to be conferred doctor of honoris causa from KU Leuven, Belgium

The Academic Council of KU Leuven has nominated DG Nteranya Sanginga to receive the degree of doctor of honoris causa. The award will be conferred on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of VLIR-UOS, an organization that supports partnerships between higher education institutions in Flanders and the South. The five partner universities under VLIR-UOS will…

IITA and Sierra Leone sign agreement to boost national crop production and food security

IITA has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Agriculture, to partner with the government on reduction of malnutrition and ensuring food security in the country. The MoU entails the introduction of new crop varieties and cultivation techniques, the reopening of IITA station in Sierra Leone, as well as the…

Agriculture extension officers learning how to inspect cassava seeds in the field.

MEDA, IITA, and Tanzania’s seed certification agency train extension workers on cassava seed inspection

The Building an Economically-Sustainable Seed System in Tanzania for Cassava (BEST Cassava) project has trained over 70 Agricultural extension officers on cassava seed inspection and certification to become certified cassava seed inspectors. This is part of the project’s efforts to ensure farmers in Tanzania have access to high quality planting materials of high-yielding, disease-resistant, improved…

Sore receives award of recognition presented to IITA by the University.

Students enlightened on industry expectations at university’s SIWES pre-placement orientation

The University of Ilorin, Kwara State held the 2019 edition of their Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) Pre-placement Orientation Program on 7 February. SIWES is a mandatory program designed to enable students from Nigerian tertiary institutions, acquire professional skills by active participation in industry. The goal of the scheme is to bridge the gap…

Publishing partner offers IITA discount across full range of publications

The recently published book by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, ‘Critical issues in plant health: 50 years of research in African agriculture’ is a collection summarizing 50 years of research on plant health by IITA to improve the health of crops in Africa. It is part of the rapidly expanding Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science,…

IITA team with Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh (center) and officials of Origin Group Nigeria at the signing ceremony.

IITA signs training agreement to “tractorize” Nigeria

To support the quest for attainment of Nigeria’s agriculture mechanization goal, IITA has signed a training agreement with Origin Tech Group Nigeria Ltd, a private sector investor who is interested in bridging tractor and agriculture equipment deficit in Nigeria. Origin Tech Group Nigeria is a local agricultural value chain company providing value-technology in agricultural advisory,…

Vara Prasad (left) being interviewed by Jonathan Odhong (right) at the Africa RISING Program Learning Event held on 5 - 8 February 2019 in Malawi. Photo credit: Simret Yasabu/ILRI.

Operationalizing the Sustainable Intensification Assessment Framework: An interview with Vara Prasad

The launch of the Sustainable Intensification Assessment Framework (SIAF) in November 2018 by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Sustainable Intensification (SIIL) marked a turnkey moment in agricultural research and development. Borne out of collaborative efforts by scientists from SIIL, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Michigan State University (MSU), University of…

A group discussion in progress during the Africa RISING Program Learning Event held on 5 - 8 February 2019 in Malawi. Photo credit: Simret Yasabu/ILRI.

What’s in a name? Africa RISING partners aim for common understanding of terminologies

Words like ‘innovation’, ‘spillover’, ‘adoption’, ‘technology’, and others are often parts of the daily lexicon of agricultural researchers and development practitioners. But what’s in a name? Does everybody mean the same thing whenever they use these terminologies? More importantly for a research-in-development project like Africa RISING, does everybody apply the same parameters when measuring them?…

Annet Mutema International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Africa RISING Ethiopian Highlands Project

Africa RISING Learning Event 2019: Participants reflections and takeaways

Partners from six project countries converged in Malawi on 5–8 February for the Africa RISING Program Learning Event 2019. The goal of the annual meet was for partners to synthesize valuable lessons learnt in the previous year and harness them for improved project implementation this year. The meeting brought together Africa RISING scientists, researchers, and communications…

Africa RISING releases training manual for building the capacity of scientists in gender sensitive research

Systematic integration of gender analysis in the design and activities of a project or program is now globally acknowledged as a prerequisite and best practice for development and deployment of sustainable agricultural interventions. But for most projects (and individual scientists by extension), the question of capacity in gender sensitive research is still a stumbling block…