IITA News

ATTC News: Aflasafe commercialization in full swing

Thanks to more than a decade-and-a-half of dedicated research, we have Aflasafe ready to broadcast onto Africa’s farms. And now, we are working on broadcasting the good news. As part of our communication strategy for the Aflasafe Technology Transfer and Commercialization (ATTC) project, we launched our newsletter, ATTC News, last December. Issue 2 is coming out…

SIMLESA–Africa RISING joint learning event. Photo credit: Jonathan Odhong’/IITA.

Africa RISING, SIIL, and SIMLESA hold joint learning event

If you had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk to a policymaker about systems research in agriculture/sustainable intensification (in sub-Saharan Africa), its value, and why it should be funded, what relevant case studies, high line results, and lessons learned would you share to get a positive response? This was the question posed recently to a group…

Left: A Sigatoka susceptible highland cooking banana. Right: A Sigatoka resistant highland cooking banana developed by IITA. Photos by A. Alakonya, IITA.

Taking stock of efforts to address Pseudocercospora banana pathogens of three deadly banana diseases

R4D Special Black leaf streak disease or black Sigatoka, yellow Sigatoka, and eumusae leaf spot are three closely related and complex diseases that constrain banana and plantain production globally. They are caused by three fungi belonging to the genus Pseudocercospora. These are P. fijiensis, P. musae, and P. eumusae, that cause black Sigatoka, yellow Sigatoka,…

Stakeholders strategize ways to strengthen breeding pipelines in West Africa

An array of institutes and lead specialists on breeding across West Africa convened at IITA-Ibadan for a workshop on 12–15 March, to discuss and exchange ideas on how they can work together to bring best practices and tools that can help them achieve their objectives more effectively, efficiently, and within a relatively shorter time scale….

Picture of Horn plantain variety ‘Ikpolo Noir’ found in DR Congo

Researchers develop new way to describe plantain diversity in DRC

Researchers studying the morphological (structure and form) diversity of plantain in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have developed an innovative way to describe plantain diversity using descriptors based on performance, grouping them into main, secondary, and rare descriptors.

Picture of training participants in a discussion.

IITA builds capacity on business incubation for ENABLE Youth Sudan team

IITA has conducted a six-day comprehensive training on the establishment and management of successful business incubation programs for the team implementing the Empowering Novel Agribusinesses-Led Employment (ENABLE) Youth program and in charge of managing the platforms.

Global cassava coalition calls for support for cassava transformation in Africa

Ahead of the international conference on cassava, the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21) has called on policy makers, donors and the international community to support all efforts that will bring about cassava transformation in Africa.

UNA discovers areas of collaboration with IITA-Benin

As a return visit by an IITA-Benin team, a delegation from the Université Nationale d’Agriculture (UNA) Benin, visited the Institute on 6 March, to familiarize themselves with the activities of the Institute, exchange ideas, and discuss possible areas of collaboration.

Picture of Dr Chris Okafor, OIC of IITA Bukavu Station, talks about IITA to the TropSoc delegation

IITA and the Universität Augsburg, Germany sign cooperation agreement

The Universität Augsburg (UAU) and IITA have signed a cooperation agreement to foster partnership for the development and implementation of collaborative programs.

IITA participates in 2018 “Technology and Innovation Expo”

IITA made a strong appearance at the week-long “Technology and Innovation Expo 2018” that took place in Abuja, 5-9 March.