January 2017 - IITA News

Cassava could “transform economies” in Central Africa

Ministers of agriculture and rural development from Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Gabon are optimistic that agriculture could transform the region into a semi-industrialized economy, with cassava being at the center of the sector. They were speaking with agricultural experts, policymakers, and smallholder farmers in Cameroon during the inaugural biennial Cassava forum last month (6-9 December). The initiative is…

Tanzania’s deputy minister applauds joint IITA–University research on cooking banana

Tanzania’s Deputy Minister for Education, Science and Technology has praised the collaboration between IITA and the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST). Hon Eng. Stella Manyanya who was on a tour of the Pan-African university on 21 January, said that great things happen when academic institutions partner with world class research institutes…

Picture of Women have a critical role to play in tackling climate change and related threats to food security.

Good progress but major challenges remain in gender integration efforts in agric and climate change policies in Tanzania and Uganda

While both Uganda and Tanzania have made great strides in strengthening the gender component of their agriculture and climate change policies, a lot still needs to be done to ensure gender issues are adequately addressed including the allocation of resources and better planning of activities and strategies for gender transformation. This in turn will contribute…

Congratulations! UK body recognizes IITA

In central Africa, the work of one IITA scientist—Emmanuel Njukwe has received commendation from Industry Insight Monthly—a UK-based organization—and he has subsequently been recognized in its 2017 Farming & Agriculture Awards. The 2017 Farming & Agriculture Awards recognized individuals and institutions working on seed systems. Njukwe leads a team that employs a rigorous propagation technique…

Picture of Denis Sonwa of CIFOR (Left), and Kantengwa Speciose IITA Rwanda (center), with a visitor at the IITA exhibition booth during the event at Kigali.

Congo’s Minister of State lends voice to Africa’s agricultural rejuvenation

Henri Djombo, Congo’s Minister of State, recently appealed for an increase in efforts to rejuvenate Africa’s agricultural practices and called on every stakeholder in managing the Congo Basin Forest to work assiduously to improve agricultural production and activities in non-forest land on the continent. Congo’s agricultural and forest sectors need to be managed in a…

Picture of DG Sanginga with the Abuja team.

IITA leaders chart operations’ course for Abuja station

IITA’s Director General, Nteranya Sanginga and Kenton Dashiell, Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery (P4D), during two separate visits to the IITA station in Abuja on 10 and 12 January, respectively, announced operational plans for the station in 2017. DG Sanginga also inspected progress on the ongoing construction work at the AfDB-funded Youth Training Center…

Picture of Millions of African households depend on cassava for their livelihoods.

Bill Gates eulogizes NextGen cassava research in Africa

The efforts of researchers working through the Next Generation Cassava Breeding (NextGen Cassava) project to significantly increase the rate of genetic improvement in cassava breeding and unlocking the full potential of Africa’s most popular staple crop were applauded by Bill Gates, founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in his blog this month. While sharing…

IITA moves to commercialize and disseminate aflatoxin biocontrol products to Africa’s farmers

…flags off project to ensure aflasafe products reach farmers’ hands. African farmers will soon have a product that would ensure safer food for their families and communities. A natural product called aflasafe that can reduce contamination from aflatoxin, a silent killer, would soon be made available in at least 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Following…

Management announces rebranding of “new” IITA

In an email during December 2016, DG Nteranya Sanginga announced the rebranding of IITA and the adoption of a new tagline and boilerplate that better showcases the new IITA. According to DG Sanginga, the changes were discussed in October 2016, during the IITA’s Directors’ Meeting in Mozambique where a consensus was reached to rebrand IITA….

Congo Basin Institute gets publicity boost

Last December 2016, the US Ambassador to Cameroon Michael Hoza generously hosted a reception in honor of the Congo Basin Institute’s efforts to advance science to meet the critical challenges facing Central Africa. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and IITA are leading a multi-institutional initiative to develop the Congo Basin Institute (CBI), which…