IITA News

IITA trains cassava processors and bakers in Rwanda

According to the 2018 data published by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, cassava is the second most grown crop after banana in terms of cultivated area. The same data indicates that cassava is the fourth most consumed staple crop in Rwanda, as freshly harvested roots or as transformed recipes majorly ugali made from…

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…

Dr Nteranya Sanginga, IITA Director General

DG Sanginga’s tenure extended to ensure stability

The CGIAR-IITA Board of Trustees (BoT) has announced a one-year extension for Director General Nteranya Sanginga’s leadership tenure. Board Chair, Dr Christian Borgemeister, disclosed this to the Institute’s staff in a video address, where he explained the rationale for the decision to have the DG stay until November 2022. “Our reasoning as the IITA Board…

Degradable waste: Soon to become an asset in Oyo State

IITA is looking at how to produce biogas from degradable waste. In line with this, DG Nteranya Sanginga called for a 3-day seminar for the youth biogas team on proposal writing, work plan drafting, and business plan writing. The seminar, which took place 16-18 September aimed to equip the team with the necessary skills for…

AGRF 2020 highlights Africa’s internal $250 billion agricultural trade opportunity

In its 10th anniversary summit, the recent African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2020, which took place in Kigali, Rwanda, focused on Africa’s rapidly expanding cities and food markets. Multiple speakers talked about the current African city markets that represent a US$250 billion opportunity, a value five times bigger than our present export markets. A video…

A second New World hoverfly, Toxomerus - floralis (Fabricius) (Diptera: Syrphidae)

Discovery of a second New World hoverfly newly introduced into the Afrotropics

In the framework of collaboration between IITA and the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, hoverflies preserved in IITA’s biodiversity center at Cotonou were recently studied using molecular biology techniques in support of morphological identification. Surprisingly some specimens from Benin and Cameroon could not be identified using existing morphological keys for Syrphidae of the…

Picture of display of healthy seedlings.

Seedling exhibition for vegetable farmers held in Uganda

Planting healthy vegetable seeds significantly reduces the use of chemical pesticides on vegetable farms thereby limiting exposure to the associated health and environmental risks.

IITA Scientist Julius Adewopo wins an international award!

Dr Julius Adewopo, a geodata scientist working IITA-Rwanda, has won 2019 Agropolis Louis Malassis International Scientific Prize for Agriculture and Food, in the “Young Promising Scientist” category. Dr Julius Adewopo heads the project titled ICT4BXW in Rwanda, which focuses on the use of ICT for advancing the prevention and control of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt in…

Breeders charged to develop yam varieties responsive to tomorrow’s challenges

In early March, 50 international breeders gathered in Ibadan, Nigeria, for the AfricaYam project’s third annual progress review and planning meeting, which looked at the progress of yam research in West Africa.

Picture of Banana Breeder Allan Brown in a discussion with members of the research team.

Journey to a better “Mchare”

“Mchare” is an important cooking banana in Tanzania and parts of Eastern Africa.