IITA News

Congo Basin Institute gets publicity boost

Last December 2016, the US Ambassador to Cameroon Michael Hoza generously hosted a reception in honor of the Congo Basin Institute’s efforts to advance science to meet the critical challenges facing Central Africa. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and IITA are leading a multi-institutional initiative to develop the Congo Basin Institute (CBI), which…

IITA’s mobile app to track cassava seeds now in Tanzania

Timely access to quality seed is a major challenge in the production of cassava in Tanzania. A mobile application for real-time tracking of cassava seed production developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for Nigeria is now available in Tanzania as part of efforts to address this challenge. The application, known Cassava SeedTracker,…

IITA-ACAI trains Liberian extension workers on weed management and agronomy best practices

As part of efforts to transform the Liberian cassava sector, a team from the IITA-led African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) trained about 70 extension service providers from across Liberia in Bentol, Montserrado County. The training, which took place in October 2019, centered on the IITA-ACAI developed agronomy toolkit known as the Six Steps to Cassava…

Adoption of gender-responsive approaches towards research on pest and disease management

Studies have shown that adopting a gender perspective while conducting agronomic research and extension work provides more efficient approaches to managing pests and diseases at the field level. This is because women and men farmers often play different roles in agricultural production. Women possess different knowledge levels about pests and diseases and are differently involved…

Celebrating IITA50 in Rwanda: How collaboration between CGIAR and scaling partners can make science work for farmers

IITA Rwanda took the International Scientific Conference organized by University of Rwanda on 14-16 June as an opportunity to showcase its research for development in the country and to mark IITA’s 50th anniversary. Conference participants from all over the world got to see and hear about IITA’s work. Emmanuel Njukwe, IITA country representative, Rwanda, presented…

Picture of a group photo of participants at the launch ceremony.

CocoaSoils launched in Cameroon

As part of its four-country implementation initiative, the CocoaSoils Program has been officially launched in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Picture of Zambia Minister of Agriculture Honorable Given Lubinda giving his keynote speech at the opening of the Joint Pan-African Grain Legume and World Cowpea Conference on 29 February at the AVANI Victoria Falls Resort in Livingstone, Zambia.

IITA-organized international confab puts grain legume and cowpea research in global spotlight

More than 580 delegates from 46 countries across the globe converged in the historical town of Livingstone in the south of Zambia to share knowledge, information, and expertise; deliberate on issues; build and reinforce partnerships; and discuss the state of the art in grain legume and cowpea research at the highly-successful Joint Pan-African Grain Legume…

IITA trains partners on ODK tools for surveillance of new banana disease threat, Fusarium wilt (Foc TR4)

IITA recently conducted a two-day training for national partners from the agriculture plant health services and plant protection departments in Tanzania and Vietnam. The workshop focused on using the Open Data Kit (ODK) tool to facilitate real-time surveillance of invasive pests and diseases in the banana cropping system, including the recent soil-borne fungal disease threat,…

Picture of The AAHC conference will be held at the IITA-Ibadan campus.

African horticultural experts to meet on improving livelihoods through horticulture

The Nigerian Society for Horticultural Sciences, under the aegis of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) is hosting the 3rd All Africa Horticultural Congress (AAHC) on 7-12 August. The workshop “Horticulture for improved livelihoods” will be held at IITA, Ibadan, and is aimed at strengthening the voice of African agriculturists in their respective academic,…

Picture of the participants pose with the Station OIC Chris Okafor (center, wearing a cap) after the workshop.

CCPC operators in South Kivu, DR Congo, meet to chart action for steady progress

For two days, 9—10 May, managers of eight community cassava processing centers (CCPCs) in Kavumu, Katana, Mulamba, Bunyakiri 1, Bunyakiri 2, Kamanyola, and Luvungi as well as technicians in charge of production met at IITA Kalambo to take stock, exchange experiences, share knowledge, and articulate strategies on the way forward.