February 2020 - Page 2 of 4

Spraying locust swarm is ineffective – IITA entomologist

As Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya battle huge swarms of desert locusts, great efforts are underway to control these destructive insects. These locusts, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are twice as big in body size and destruction potential. Verenado Meeme talked to one of our entomologists, Peter Neuenschwander about solutions that can bring…

Scientists develop effective tool for exploring the genetic diversity of the bacterial wilt pathogen in banana and enset in East and Central Africa

One of the diseases affecting banana in East and Central Africa and threatening the food and income of over 70 million people is Xanthomonas wilt (XW), a disease caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum (Xvm). The disease also attacks enset, an ancient false banana indigenous to Ethiopia, where it was first reported in…

STEP makes progress promoting agribusiness in secondary schools in Africa

Since its inception in 2019, the IITA Start Them Early Program (STEP) team has been working tirelessly towards advancing agribusiness development in secondary schools in Africa. The aim is to redirect the aspirations of Africans towards careers in modern agriculture by exposing them to viable opportunities in agribusiness at an early age. To achieve this,…

IITA’s labor of love, transforming African Agriculture

To love, or not to love, that is not the question! How to love…now that is real the question. Since 1967, IITA has been on a journey of love, developing solutions to eradicate hunger by ensuring food security, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The Institute has done this by championing research to increase crop yield and…

Cavies are not rats! They’re a source of protein and income – study

New research by scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Wageningen University reveals that cavies are an essential source of animal protein, especially for children. They are also a source of income and manure for crop production in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Titled “Micro-livestock in smallholder farming systems: The…

YIIFSWA-II participates in commercial plant tissue culture production training

On 17 January, YIIFSWA-II’s Tissue Culture Specialist, Morufat Balogun attended a one-day training on commercial plant tissue culture production hosted by Phytotech LABS in Chicago, Illinois, USA. According to Balogun, the participants learned about plant tissue culture best practices and participated in hands-on training to bolster the theoretical lessons of the workshop. She said, “The training…

Aflatoxin mitigation in Sudan gets boost with multi-stakeholder partnership

Samil Industrial Co., in collaboration with IITA, hosted a workshop in late 2019 in Al Salam Rotana Hotel, Khartoum, Sudan, to inaugurate the Multi-stakeholder Partnership for Aflatoxin Mitigation in Sudan. The Minister of Agriculture, H.E. Issa Osman Sharif inaugurated the workshop, which involved representatives from many sectors. These included government institutes, universities, research institutes, the…

IITA partners with Cornell University and University of Ghana to train on Genome editing

“History must not repeat itself” is the mantra behind the thinking and actions of development partners and African research scientists. There have been three revolutions in agriculture so far, and it’s a pity Africa did not benefit much from any of them. When other parts of the world mechanized their agriculture, Africa did not. Then…

Do not regulate genome-edited crops – IITA woman scientist

11 February was the International Day for Women and Girls in Science. IITA joined the rest of the world to celebrate the contribution of our women scientists in ensuring a food and nutrition-secure world. Women account for half of the world’s population and we cannot make representative and long-lasting changes in agriculture without them. As United Nations…

YIIFSWA-II participates in Plant and Animal Genome Conference (PAG XXVIII) in San Diego

Billed as the largest Plant and Animal Genome meeting in the world, scientists from around the world converged at San Diego, California, USA, for PAG XXVIII from 11 to 15 January to promote research discoveries, exchange ideas, and gain new insights on plant and animal genome research and development. YIIFSWA-II scientists, Norbert Maroya and Morufat…