IITA News

Rwanda uses tricot approach to identify the best potato and cassava varieties in various agroecological zones

Governmental (and nongovernmental) agencies regularly develop and release improved crop varieties for the market. In some cases, varieties are released with little information about their performance outside controlled environments. In Rwanda, the Rwanda Agricultural and Animal Resource Development Board (RAB) has recognized this as a problem and looked for solutions to address the lack of…

Study lifts the lid on plantain consumer preferences, adds fresh insights for breeding programs

Over the years, breeders have developed and distributed high-yielding, disease-resistant plantain varieties, but adoption rates have been limited. To understand why, scientists from CGIAR–IITA have published the results of a new study revealing end-user (consumer) perspectives about desirable qualities/characteristics of the plantain fruit and its derivative food products. The research, carried out within the RTBfoods…

IITA gets biotechnology stewardship certification

After completing a three-year audit cycle, IITA has become a certified member of Excellence Through Stewardship (ETS). ETS is a global organization that promotes the adoption of product stewardship programs and quality management systems for the full life cycle of agricultural biotechnology products. IITA joined the ETS organization as a member in late 2016, marking…

Dr Kwesi Attah-Krah, IITA Director of Advocacy and Country Alignment.

Agriculture stakeholders discuss possible solutions to food insecurity and trade challenges in Nigeria

On 29 September, the National Action Committee on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) held a virtual workshop on Agriculture and Agribusiness. The workshop brought together notable professionals in the agricultural sector to discuss sustainable solutions to the challenges of food security and trade in Nigeria and Africa. AfCFTA was created to expand intra-African…

Harnessing insect biodiversity for sustainable plant health in tropical Africa

Fall armyworm (FAW), a ravaging pest of the maize plant, is spreading globally. Every year, Africa, Asia, and the Near East lose 80 million tons of maize worth US$18 billion to the damaging effects of FAW. Georg Goergen, IITA Entomologist and Biocontrol Specialist based in Cotonou, highlighted past and ongoing efforts to control the spread…

IITA strengthens relations with the Nigerian Immigration Service

On a recent visit to CGIAR-IITA, the Zonal Coordinator of Zone ‘F’ of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Assistant Comptroller-General (ACG) Dora Amahian, highlighted possible areas of collaboration with the Institute, including crop production on agency land. ACG Amahian led a 9-person team on the courtesy visit to strengthen institutional relations between the two organizations….

BIP Youth Outgrowers’ team displaying harvested vegetables in the open field.

IITA BIP and partners host virtual Vegetable Field Day for farmers

Vegetables are one of the most consumed foods worldwide because of their high nutritional value. Although the vegetable business is profitable, vegetable farmers usually face challenges accessing quality seed, knowledge of good agronomic practices, and markets. In resolving these challenges, the IITA Business Incubation Platform (BIP), in conjunction with Rijk Zwaan and Seedforth Agro, hosted…

Researchers reveal a more sustainable approach to address postharvest fish losses

Small-scale inland capture fisheries contribute significantly toward enhancing the food, nutrition, and economic security of millions of people in low-income countries. Over time, several factors have restrained women’s participation in fishery value chains, limiting capture fisheries from achieving their full development potential. These factors have also reduced the impact that small-scale fisheries can have on…

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…