IITA News

GLFLive on gene banks and COVID-19

Head of IITA Germplasm Health Unit, Lava Kumar, will be participating at the next GLF Live, which will take place on 13 May. Landscape News of the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is organizing this series of live interviews with experts examining the linkages between COVID-19 and climate change. This edition of GLF Live will focus on the relationship between COVID-19, genebanks,…

Continuing to strengthen food systems in Africa

With the global food systems facing a major challenge with the outbreak of COVID-19, it has become imperative for countries to achieve a measure of self-sufficiency in their food production. CGIAR-IITA continues to work with governments in sub-Saharan Africa to facilitate this. IITA R4D Director for Central Africa, Bernard Vanlauwe, has spoken of multiple initiatives…

Government of Zambia keen to support development of agricultural value chain

The Finance Minister of Zambia, Dr Bwalya Ng’andu, announced that the government is keen to support any initiative that targets the development of the agriculture value chain because of its substantial benefits to farmers and other players in the chain. The Minister said this during a courtesy call by IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga, in…

STEP trains five as Oyo commissioners of agriculture and education visit IITA

The CGIAR-IITA Start Them Early Program (STEP) has trained five students of Fasola Grammar School (FGS) on the use of machines for agricultural productivity. The training took place at FGS and coincided with the visit of Oyo State commissioners for agriculture and education. The global outbreak of COVID-19 has affected school and STEP activities due…

Combating food waste due to postharvest diseases

Food waste has become a scourge with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimating that 45% (about 1.3 billion tons) of harvested fruits, vegetables, roots, and tubers are lost annually. These postharvest losses may involve a loss in quantity over time or quality losses of important nutrients, which may be due to contamination, such as…

Maize project supports partners in COVID-19 response

As the world continues the fight to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, food production, employment, income and welfare of people in Africa, as well as in other parts of the world, need to be given extra attention. More than 70% of the rural population in West and Central Africa depend on subsistence farming, and this is…

Human activities are the No.1 contributors for the globalization of plant pests

Human activities are the no. 1 contributors to globalizing plant pests

If there is anything the deadly COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, it is that diseases do not know boundaries and humans are responsible for carrying and spreading diseases from person to person. This is also true for several plant pests. Humans are the leading carriers of the intercontinental spread of plant pests and diseases –…

Malawi registers Aflasafe®—The cost-effective technology for aflatoxin management

The long wait for registration of Aflasafe products in Malawi has finally ended as the Pesticides Control Board (PCB) has now given the approval. Earlier, the technology was given the green light by the Agricultural Technical Clearing Committee, a unit under the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS). This registration paves the way for the…

Is agriculture a punishment or an opportunity?

It is no longer news that in Africa, agriculture is an occupation practiced by the aged in rural areas. African youth prefer migrating to urban areas in search of white-collar jobs to pursue a career in agriculture. This is because the youth have the mindset about agriculture being difficult and having little gains. The drudgery…

IITA commissions new meeting facility at HQ in Ibadan

A new meeting facility was commissioned at IITA headquarters recently. The meeting room, based at the Facilities Management Services (FMS), is called the Savanna Room. It is an ultra-modern facility suitable for teleconferencing and online forums designed and built internally by the FMS team led by Waheed Quader. “The room was named after the beautiful…