IITA News

YIIFSWA-II seed yam production technologies displayed at ICERIA 2019

Agrobusiness Times kick-started its initiative for promoting agricultural innovations for economic development as part of the inaugural International Conference and Expo on Research and Innovations in Agriculture (ICERIA) which took place at the National Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) in Victoria Island, Lagos on 24 October. The conference with the theme, “Harnessing Sustainable Agricultural Innovations…

Scientists prepped for nutrition survey

A team of scientists has been trained to carry out a nutrition survey in selected communities throughout Nigeria. The week-long training workshop, which took place from 27 October to 2 November, focused on preparing the scientists for the field and designing a good survey. IITA Head of Administration, West Africa Hub, Sylvia Oyinlola, welcomed the…

Cotonou hosts fruit fly recognition and impact training course

IITA-Benin hosted a regional training course on “Modern Taxonomy and Identification Tools of Fruit Fly Species in Africa” in Cotonou, 23 to 27 September. The training course, jointly funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was conducted in close collaboration with the University of…

IITA staff and partners trained on statistical analysis using R

The IITA Capacity Development Office (CDO) facilitated a 4-day training on “Statistical analysis using R programming” from 27 to 30 August. The training taught participants about ‘R’, the commonly used statistical package for data analysis. The trainees were IITA staff and partners from Abuja, Ibadan, Kano, as well as others from Ghana and Mali, who…

Decade-long trials prove efficacy of Nigeria’s aflatoxin biocontrol product

An IITA-led partnership has honed aflatoxin biocontrol for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for over 15 years. Recently, the team published a landmark journal article reporting a 10-year study on the efficacy of Aflasafe®, a registered biocontrol product for aflatoxin management in Nigeria. This is the longest-running, most extensive study on efficacy of any biocontrol product or management practice…

IITA Scientist elected to prestigious global science body

Leena Tripathi, a Principal Scientist with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Deputy Director of IITA’s Eastern Africa hub has been elected as a fellow to the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Tripathi received this recognition because of her distinguished contribution to developing robust genetic transformation platforms for…

IITA launches International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) 2020 at R4D Week

With decades of research contributing to the improvement of plant health globally and across Africa in particular, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is joining the plant science community on 22 November to launch the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) 2020. The IYPH 2020 is a year long observance with the theme, “Protecting…

Sasakawa Africa Association signs MoU with IITA to strengthen already existing partnership

The Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) team met with the IITA Board of Trustees (BoT) at IITA Ibadan campus on 20 November. The meeting was for the purpose of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their already existing partnership and discuss more partnership opportunities. SAA was founded in Geneva in 1986 by Ryoichi Sasakawa…

Data Focus: Equity in Open Access

The world observed Open Access week 2019 from 21 to 27 October. The theme, “Open for whom? Equity in Open Access” raised important considerations about the various users of open access data and publications as well as the usage of such open access materials or data. According to Opensource.com, Open Access means making your work…

YIIFSWA-II exhibits at Annual NASC Seed Fair and Farmers Day

The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) held its annual Seed Fair and Farmers Day on 17 October, at their headquarters in Sheda, Abuja. The theme of this year’s event was “Making quality seeds available, accessible and affordable to Nigerian farmers.” The new Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono indicated that there…