IITA News

Picture of SARD-SC Communication Officer Interviewing a guest.

SARD-SC side event highlights contributions to food and nutrition security

In consonance with the theme of this year’s FARA event, Apply Science, Impact livelihoods, the SARD-SC project, funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) held a side event on the topic, SARD-SC contributing to food and nutrition security in Africa. The purpose of the side event was to highlight the achievements of the project in…

Picture of Akinwumi Adesina receives the FARA award in recognition of his visionary leadership.

Adesina, AfDB president and IITA alumni, feted at FARA’s Science Week

Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), became the first laureate of the Forum for Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA) award for leadership in advancing the agriculture agenda in Africa. The award aimed at recognizing an individual who had made significant personal achievement in efforts towards creating a more food secure continent. Adesina…

Picture of Akinwumi Adesina (center) samples SARD-SC cassava products.

CGIAR/IITA and SARD-SC project showcases innovations and commodity value chain products

IITA and the SARD-SC project participated in the exhibition of agricultural goods and services during the recently held Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW) and FARA General Assembly, held in Kigali, Rwanda. Project posters detailing commodity value chain achievements of rice, cassava, maize, and wheat were on display at the booth. The rice value chain commodity…

Cassava innovation challenge: we need ideas

Do you have ideas about how to extend the shelf life of cassava? And making the cassava root last longer on the ground after harvest? Then send your entry here latest by Friday, 7 July 2016 and stand a chance to get up to $1 million in funds to upscale your idea. All the tips…

Picture of Participants learn key aspects of phenotyping for yam diseases.

AfricaYam project strengthens yam breeding capacity

The AfricaYam project is hosting two weeks of training, 20 June to 1 July, at IITA, Ibadan, to effectively equip yam research personnel on techniques for phenotyping yam for disease and developing pest resistant varieties. Yam has been plagued by anthracnose, nematodes, and viruses, with a high number of these integrated in its DNA. The…

Picture of IITA and JCU discuss possible areas of collaboration.

IITA and Office of the Vice President of Nigeria explore areas of collaboration

IITA and the Job Creation Unit (JCU) under the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria are exploring areas of possible collaboration with a view to creating jobs for youth in the country. At a meeting in IITA in Ibadan on 10 June, Kenton Dashiell, Deputy Director General for Partnerships for Delivery and Alfred Dixon,…

IITA upgrades to fraud management policy

IITA has revised and upgraded its Whistleblowing Policy to a Fraud Management Policy following a survey carried out on staff’s awareness of the Institute’s policy on whistleblowing. The objective of the policy is to set out the Institute’s stance on fraud and to reinforce existing systems, policies, and procedures of IITA aimed at deterring, preventing,…

Picture of PPSMV identified by Lava Kumar during his graduate research. The discovery was recognized for its overall contribution in controlling the destructive Sterility Mosiac Disease.

IITA scientist presents to IARSAF members

There is no substitute for self-motivation. No one can put success in your pocket,” IITA Virologist Lava Kumar said at the IARSAF journal club, held 10 June, at IITA, Ibadan, where he chronicled his graduate research experience and advised the student researchers to remain zealous in their academic pursuits. Kumar’s presentation, titled “Chasing unknown viruses─recounting…

Picture of Victor Manyong highlights IITA’s pivotal role in poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tracking impact: IITA technologies lift over 4 million people in Africa out of poverty

Evidence from research have shown that IITA had—by 2015—contributed to lifting over 4,306,621 people in sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty through the adoption of improved agricultural technologies developed by the Institute and its partners. This is the evidence from four completed case studies that were presented by Dr Victor Manyong, IITA Director for Eastern Africa…

IITA unveils new state-of-the-art generating set for liquid nitrogen

A new generating set that will guarantee a steady supply of liquid nitrogen for the long- term preservation of clonally propagated crops conserved at IITA’s Genetic Resource Center (GRC) was recently launched. In line with implementing the global conservation strategy of clonal crops, the new liquid nitrogen generator (LNG) for cryobanking will ensure that the…