IITA News

IITA-Rwanda releases a digital application

IITA-Rwanda, together with partners, has launched a digital Application which will serve more than 5,000 farmers across the country to diagnose, control and prevent Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) in banana plantations. BXW Application (also BXW-App; Pronounced “Box-Up”) provides a stepwise digital approach that empowers farmers to diagnose BXW in their fields and take immediate control…

CBN and IITA explore areas of synergy to boost cassava production in Nigeria

In an effort to improve cassava productivity and value addition activities in Nigeria, representatives from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) visited IITA Ibadan on 25 September to explore possible avenues of collaboration, especially in facilitating finance for farmers. Achieving more efficiency in the sector promises to increase incomes of the value chain actors. IITA…

CIALCA organizes ICT4Ag workshop to build capacity of staff and partners

The Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA) organized a two-day course on the use of digital tools in agriculture research. This is part of CIALCA’s efforts to build the capacity of national scientists and practitioners on innovative digital technologies, to empower research and decision-making to facilitate sustainable agri-food system transformation. Twenty CIALCA…

Ghanaian farmers can now control Aflatoxin, earn big

A study has identified the best non-toxic strains that can limit aflatoxin contamination in laboratory and field conditions. One of the authors, Dr. Alejandro Ortega-Beltran, a plant pathologist with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) says, “We were able to detect non-toxic strains with the highest ability to limit crop contamination in the laboratory…

DRC-CBSD project holds activity planning workshop for 2019–2020

The IITA Actions to control Cassava Brown Streak Disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) project (DRC-CBSD Project), held its fourth workshop and final planning for year 2019–2020 activities. The annual meeting took place in the city of Mbanza-Ngungu in Kongo-Central, DRC, from 17 to 19 September. Representatives of the United States Agency for…

Review team commences visits to Africa RISING activity sites

After two months of document reviews (between July and August 2019), the team of three eminent scientists undertaking an internally commissioned external review (ICER) of the Africa RISING program have commenced visits to activity locations for the three regional Africa RISING projects in West Africa, Ethiopian Highlands, and East and Southern Africa. The reviewers, Christine…

Senior team visits YIIFSWA-II project sites in Nigeria

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Senior Program Officer of YIIFSWA-II project, Lauren Good and the Project Leader Norbert Maroya, YIIFSWA-II visited project activities in Abuja, the Nigerian Federal Capital Territory as well as sites in Ogun and Oyo states. The field visit organized by the Project Leader presented an opportunity for the Program Officer…

IITA Kalambo station named after Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo

DR Congo President officiates at naming ceremony and launching of biotechnology lab in IITA’s Kalambo Station in DR Congo. The IITA Kalambo Station – located in South-Kivu Province, in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo – will be named “The President Olusegun Obasanjo Research Campus” by His Excellency the President of the Democratic Republic of…

IITA to name research station in Kalambo after longtime collaborator and Goodwill Ambassador

On 8 October, IITA will officially inaugurate the Institute’s research station in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The event will also serve as the naming ceremony where the Kalambo station will be designated The President Olusegun Obasanjo Research Campus, in honor of the former Nigerian President and IITA Goodwill Ambassador. Read more

IITA trains tutors on climate smart agriculture for sustainable food security in Tanzania

IITA-Tanzania, as part of the Building Capacity for Resilient Food Security Project, trained 33 tutors from agricultural training institutes across 14 regions in Tanzania on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices for the various agroecological zones. The training is part of the project’s objective to build the country’s capacity to effectively respond to the…