Bulletin story Archives

IARSAF holds the maiden edition of its journal club for 2020

On 28 February, the International Association of Research Scholars and Fellows (IARSAF) of IITA held the maiden meeting of its journal club for 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to help participants gain new knowledge in various scientific fields through research-paper review and build their communication and presentation skills. The Head Administration, IITA Western…

IITA Tanzania celebrates International Women’s Day and launches local chapter of Women’s Group

From the doctor who is often referred to as a nurse because a doctor is expected to be male, to the architect whose construction workers will not follow her instructions without checking what the “engineer” (who is expected to be a male) says, and the entrepreneur who is always asked who is the man behind…

Agribusiness: Way out for youth rural–urban migration

Research has associated the increase of rural‒urban migration amongst youth in Africa with lesser food expenditures and the incidence of poverty. The major reason for this rural‒urban youth migration is attributed to unemployment. The recent study funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), under the Enhancing Capacity to Apply Research Evidence (CARE) in…

Head of IITA’s banana breeding program receives dedicated scientist award at the International Banana Conference

The Head of IITA’s banana breeding program, Rony Swennen received the “Dedicated Scientist Award for his exemplary commitment to Banana research” during an International Conference on Banana held in Trichy, India on 22–25 February 2020. Swennen also gave the first keynote presentation of the conference on “Breeding plantain and cooking banana (Matooke and Mchare) hybrids…

IITA builds six cassava processing factories in Liberia

The former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, entrusted IITA with a project to build six processing factories in Liberia within two months. It was the end of her tenure and the close of the financial year, but Mrs Sirleaf wanted the factories built and commissioned before her retirement, as it was her brainchild. IITA…

Harmony with nature: The story of Alec Butler

As a research institute, the main business of IITA centers on science and measurable data. However, walking or driving into the IITA headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria for the first time may leave you feeling like you just stepped out of reality and into a fairytale. Such is the beauty and excellence of the one thousand…

Forward movement for STEP as teams exceed 6-month target

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) had a 6-month review meeting with the Start Them Early Program (STEP) team in Kenya on 13 February. The meeting was chaired by Jemimah Njuki, a Senior Program Specialist at IDRC and the Director-General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga. The meeting was attended by the STEP-Kenya team: Paul Woomer,…

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…

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…

IYA celebrates success in its youth empowerment programs for 2019

Since its inception in 2012, the IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) has been working tirelessly, creating capacity development programs and projects to engage youth in agribusiness. Although IYA has experienced challenges in accessing funds and credit facilities to assist some of the trained youth in establishing and expanding their agribusinesses, about 7,000 youth have benefited from…