IITA News

IITA partners with Rwanda to develop cassava clean seed standards

The Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) has launched the cassava clean seed standards along with 292 other standards in different sectors at a colorful event held in Kigali on 7 February. The cassava seed standards was one of the three standards showcased during the launch. The other two were on mosquito repellants and good financial grant…

IITA in the spotlight: A fellowship award from the Wellcome Trust Foundation in the UK

IITA Molecular Entomologist, Rousseau Djouaka has been awarded a fellowship from the prestigious British foundation, Wellcome Trust. The foundation conducts a highly competitive selection process, choosing Fellows for funding from scientists working on topics related to human health. Djouaka, who is based at IITA-Cotonou in Benin, will be receiving funding for the next 5 years…

Project makes progress in developing sustainable seed systems in Mozambique

Project Manager for Feed the Future Mozambique Improved Seeds for Better Agriculture (SEMEAR) project, Carlos Malita, gave a presentation on 22 February at IITA-Nampula, Mozambique, in which he highlighted the project’s achievements, prospects, future plans, and its contribution to economic development. The contract review seminar titled “Formal & informal seed systems – one or another?…

New project launched to improve rural livelihoods and food security in Mali

The Climate Smart Agricultural Technologies (CSAT) project was recently launched in Mali. This research-for-development project will promote and scale up technologies to help producers adapt to the effects of climate change. In addition to scaling up existing technologies, researchers will develop additional options to make better technologies available to different actors, including the use of…

DG Sanginga to be conferred doctor of honoris causa from KU Leuven, Belgium

The Academic Council of KU Leuven has nominated DG Nteranya Sanginga to receive the degree of doctor of honoris causa. The award will be conferred on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of VLIR-UOS, an organization that supports partnerships between higher education institutions in Flanders and the South. The five partner universities under VLIR-UOS will…

IITA and Sierra Leone sign agreement to boost national crop production and food security

IITA has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Agriculture, to partner with the government on reduction of malnutrition and ensuring food security in the country. The MoU entails the introduction of new crop varieties and cultivation techniques, the reopening of IITA station in Sierra Leone, as well as the…

Agriculture extension officers learning how to inspect cassava seeds in the field.

MEDA, IITA, and Tanzania’s seed certification agency train extension workers on cassava seed inspection

The Building an Economically-Sustainable Seed System in Tanzania for Cassava (BEST Cassava) project has trained over 70 Agricultural extension officers on cassava seed inspection and certification to become certified cassava seed inspectors. This is part of the project’s efforts to ensure farmers in Tanzania have access to high quality planting materials of high-yielding, disease-resistant, improved…

Sore receives award of recognition presented to IITA by the University.

Students enlightened on industry expectations at university’s SIWES pre-placement orientation

The University of Ilorin, Kwara State held the 2019 edition of their Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) Pre-placement Orientation Program on 7 February. SIWES is a mandatory program designed to enable students from Nigerian tertiary institutions, acquire professional skills by active participation in industry. The goal of the scheme is to bridge the gap…

Publishing partner offers IITA discount across full range of publications

The recently published book by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, ‘Critical issues in plant health: 50 years of research in African agriculture’ is a collection summarizing 50 years of research on plant health by IITA to improve the health of crops in Africa. It is part of the rapidly expanding Burleigh Dodds Series in Agricultural Science,…

IITA team with Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh (center) and officials of Origin Group Nigeria at the signing ceremony.

IITA signs training agreement to “tractorize” Nigeria

To support the quest for attainment of Nigeria’s agriculture mechanization goal, IITA has signed a training agreement with Origin Tech Group Nigeria Ltd, a private sector investor who is interested in bridging tractor and agriculture equipment deficit in Nigeria. Origin Tech Group Nigeria is a local agricultural value chain company providing value-technology in agricultural advisory,…