IITA News no. 2557 Archives

CGIAR centers applying CRISPR/Cas to improve roots, tubers, and bananas

One CGIAR centers are now using CRISPR/Cas, a form of genome editing, to help speed up the development of improved high-yielding roots, tubers, and bananas (RTB)—these are essential staple food crops in tropical and subtropical countries grown for food security. Genome editing either silences or knocks out a gene of interest in the plant genome…

Partnerships boost scaling of legume technologies

Partnerships were identified as one of the major drivers of success of the N2Africa project, which reached over 655,662 beneficiary smallholder farmers, produced and distributed over 504,454 extension reading materials, and produced over 80 tons of soybean and common beans seeds in Tanzania. The success of this large-scale, science-based research-in-development project that focused on putting…

“Breeding Better Bananas” project excels in developing new ‘Matooke’ hybrids

In October 2019, the “Breeding Better Bananas” project transitioned into Phase II—“Accelerated Breeding Better Bananas”—to further streamline the conventional breeding of banana in East Africa. This project brings together an international spectrum of partners to transform the national banana breeding programs in Uganda and Tanzania. This improved banana breeding pipeline has produced more than 231…

Project launched to enhance adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Southern Africa

A new project that aims to investigate the drivers and barriers to adoption of Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Southern Africa and to develop strategies for achieving adoption and impact at scale was recently launched virtually by CA stakeholders in the region. CA, a farming system that promotes minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and diversification…