IITA hosts media as part of 50th anniversary celebration

Recently editors and senior journalists from nearly all the major media houses in Tanzania spent half a day at IITA’s Eastern Africa Hub interacting with the researchers to get a better understanding of the Institute and its activities.

This was part of the Media familiarization tour, an event organized by the Institute as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.

Over 30 journalists were welcomed to the hub by Victor Manyong, IITA Eastern Africa Hub Director, who gave a brief overview of the Institute, its past successes, and future areas of focus. They then spent the rest of the morning touring the Institute’s facilities including the laboratories and interacting with IITA scientists.

Manyong informed the journalists that IITA had shifted its focus from nourishing Africa to transforming agriculture on the continent.

“We will continue to work with governments in partnership with many other organizations, to transform their economies though agriculture. Here in Tanzania, as in many other countries where we work, the government is pushing the country to become industrialized and reach middle income level. And transforming the agricultural sector is one of strategies to achieve this goal.”

He said IITA has been supporting agriculture through developing sustainable solutions to address pressing needs in the sector. These include developing improved high-yielding drought-tolerant varieties, tackling new emerging pests and diseases, such as the maize lethal necrosis and banana Tropical Race4. The Institute had also launched a program to attract the youth to agriculture to reduce unemployment, working closely with partners including the African Development Bank to support youth development projects.

“Unemployment is a big problem in many African countries. We have started a pilot program on attracting the youth to agriculture. We mentor them and provide them with skills to start profitable agribusinesses. Although we began with university graduates to use their skills and knowledge to transform agriculture, we are starting a new project in Tanzania and Nigeria to work with the most marginalized young people. This will be in partnership with the Michigan State University,” Manyong said.

“And in all the work we do, our partners are very important. We work with a wide range of stakeholders to deliver the technologies we develop to intended beneficiaries who are mostly smallholders. The media are also a very important partner and as we mark our 50th anniversary, we wanted to celebrate with you our successes and explore ways to strengthen our relationship as we embark on our next phase.”

By the end of the visit, the journalists were very impressed with all the research at the Institute and requested more regular interactions with the researchers to update them on their progress as well as on new emerging issues in agriculture.

This was the second group of stakeholders the Institute has hosted at its Hub in Tanzania. In February, the Institute held a Donor Appreciation Day, a similar event for donors.