IITA News

DG Sanginga furthers IITA-SLU collaboration on key areas

The Institute is on course to strengthen its cooperation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) on vital research and exchange areas including gender, agriculture, youth agripreneurship, bioinformatics, and plant breeding. The discussions were initiated during a visit by IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga and Bernard Vanlauwe, IITA R4D Director, Central Africa, to the…

IITA alumnus and AfDB President bags prestigious 2017 World Food Prize

IITA rejoices with its own champion, alumnus, avid supporter, and mentor of the IITA Youth Agripreneurs, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), who was announced the 46th laureate of the most coveted food and agriculture award—the World Food Prize. The award recognizes his exemplary efforts in driving transformational changes in Nigeria’s…

Picture of IYA exhibiting their products.

IITA Forest Unit staff gets international award

IITA Forest Unit field supervisor Olukunle Olasupo or Kunle, is the 2017 recipient of the March Christian Award of the prestigious Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). The award recognizes him for his relentless contribution to Plant Conservation in botanic gardens. This award comes with a cash prize of £1,000 and a Certificate. Deni Bown, Head,…

IITA’s forest unit partners with BGCI to address depleting forest resources

Nigeria’s forest cover is now less than 5% of its original state and far below the recognized target of 25% to mitigate climate change. According to the country’s Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, all of its forests will be gone in less than 3 years unless urgent steps are taken to halt and reverse this…

NACGRAB scientists trained on operating bioreactor for high ratio propagation of yam plantlets

With the installation of a new SETIS bioreactor facility at the National Center for Genetic Resource and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), two senior research officers were trained on using the high ratio propagation (HRP) technology by the Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa Phase Two (YIIFSWA-II) bioreactor team at IITA, Ibadan. YIIFSWA-II Project…

Celebrating IITA50 in Rwanda: How collaboration between CGIAR and scaling partners can make science work for farmers

IITA Rwanda took the International Scientific Conference organized by University of Rwanda on 14-16 June as an opportunity to showcase its research for development in the country and to mark IITA’s 50th anniversary. Conference participants from all over the world got to see and hear about IITA’s work. Emmanuel Njukwe, IITA country representative, Rwanda, presented…

Picture of At the Genetic Resources Center, the media practitioners saw seeds of various crops of importance which IITA holds in trust for humanity.

IITA’s successes highlighted at media forum

Research breakthroughs over the last 50 years were highlighted during the first Media Day organized by IITA in Ibadan.

Picture of brown streak disease in cassava.

R4D Special: Spirited effort by IITA team to manage the viruses destroying cassava in Africa

From convincing communities to uproot all their cassava to replace with new clean planting materials, piloting a commercial system to supply disease-free planting materials, to developing new rapid methods to diagnose the viruses, the IITA Vector Entomology team in Eastern Africa has certainly been busy exploring all options to save the cassava in Eastern and parts of Central Africa.

Picture of IITA Goodwill Ambassador, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, addressing the audience during the NZHF in Benue.

Nigerian governors endorse peer advisory mechanism to facilitate the attainment of zero hunger by 2025

Five state governors in Nigeria have endorsed a peer advisory mechanism to enable them to monitor the implementation of their state-grown agricultural plans with a view to ending hunger by 2025.

Picture of Godwin Atser, Toyin Oke, His Royal Highness, Tor Tiv, Prof James Ayatse; and DDG Dashiell in Benue state.

Obasanjo, Dashiell, Umahi, and Yaji honored by Benue government

The Benue State government has honored IITA Ambassador, former President Olusegun Obasanjo; IITA Deputy Director General for Partnerships and Delivery, Kenton Dashiell; Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi; and a former Deputy Governor of Benue State, Sule Yaji for their contributions to food security.