Plant Health Archives - Page 5 of 15

Production and distribution of Aflasafe KE01TM continue despite COVID-19 restrictions

As Kenya puts in place measures to protect the lives of its citizens from the devastating coronavirus disease, COVID-19, efforts to also protect lives by ensuring food is safe and free from the devastating aflatoxin have been going on. The team from the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and the International Institute of…

Nodumax production team before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nodumax set for full production despite the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting global food systems, disrupting regional agricultural value chains, and posing risks to household food security. It has created a heightened awareness of food safety among producers, businesses, governments, and consumers. The agricultural input production and supply industry is facing many challenges around production and logistics. This affected the unit at…

Manual weeding is labour intensive and cumbersome which causes farmers to delay weeding their cassava fields. Weeds account for over 30% in yeild loss

Scientists recommend additional herbicides for weed control in cassava farming

Cassava is the second most-consumed staple food after maize in sub-Saharan Africa, feeding more than 300 million people. Nigeria is the world’s biggest producer of cassava at 59 million tons per year. However, this food security crop that can tolerate prolonged droughts is yet to attain its yield potential. Smallholder farmers in Africa harvest 8‒12…

IITA scientist develops a cheaper and faster tool for identifying whiteflies

A CGIAR-IITA scientist has developed a more cost and time effective molecular diagnostic tool that can accurately identify different subgroups of cassava whiteflies, Bemisia tabaci. The tool can be used in local laboratories in Africa that often lack expensive sequencing technologies. This innovation marks a major milestone in efforts to accurately characterize whiteflies, which transmit viruses that…

IITA banana research paper in Wiley’s Plant Pathology journal among the most downloaded

A paper published by a team led by scientists from IITA was among the top 10% most downloaded of all papers published between January 2018 and December 2019 in Wiley’s Plant Pathology journal. The research team received the news in a congratulatory message and an online certificate from the Journal. Part of the message stated:…

IITA saves the day in controlling aflatoxin in Tanzania for this growing season

IITA has come to the rescue in efforts to reduce aflatoxin contamination in maize and groundnut in Tanzania to enhance the country’s food safety and security during this challenging time for the agriculture sector due to the coronavirus disease outbreak. IITA, through its office in Tanzania, produced 10 tons of AflasafeTZ, the natural and safe…

Human activities are the No.1 contributors for the globalization of plant pests

Human activities are the no. 1 contributors to globalizing plant pests

If there is anything the deadly COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, it is that diseases do not know boundaries and humans are responsible for carrying and spreading diseases from person to person. This is also true for several plant pests. Humans are the leading carriers of the intercontinental spread of plant pests and diseases –…

Malawi registers Aflasafe®—The cost-effective technology for aflatoxin management

The long wait for registration of Aflasafe products in Malawi has finally ended as the Pesticides Control Board (PCB) has now given the approval. Earlier, the technology was given the green light by the Agricultural Technical Clearing Committee, a unit under the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS). This registration paves the way for the…

AgroEcoHealth focus: Agriculture’s role in the development of mosquitoes

IITA Molecular Entomologist and Head of the AgroEcoHealth Platform in Cotonou, Rousseau Djouaka, has revealed the role of agriculture in the proliferation of mosquitoes concerning the spread of Buruli ulcer (BU). Djouaka highlighted this in his presentation, “The IITA AgroEcoHealth Platform, Starting from Ground Zero towards New Challenges,” which he gave at the IITA HQ…

Meet CGIAR-IITA’s women fighting plant pests and diseases

The current COVID-19 pandemic is a heart-wrenching example of how viruses can quickly spread from one continent to the next. The way human diseases spread is not any different from how plant pests and diseases spread. Lava Kumar, a virologist and head of the Germplasm Health Unit (GHU) at IITA, says, “Humans are the number…