IITA News

Artificial intelligence: A game-changer for agriculture in Africa

CGIAR-IITA plant health scientist James Legg was a recent guest on Plantopia, a podcast series to mark the International Year of Plant Health, and interviewed by Cornell University’s David Gadoury. Legg talked about a powerful tool that is putting information in farmers’ hands. This tool is an app, PlantVillage , which was developed in partnership…

IITA releases 10-year strategy for managing invasive species in Africa

Prevention, early detection and control make up the three-pronged approach that Africa is taking on to manage the menace of invasive species on the continent. As the climate continues to change, invasive species also continue to increase and spread globally. Countries cannot wave off a global challenge individually hence the need for a continent-wide strategy. This…

IITA to host One-Health webinar on climate-driven pests and diseases in West Africa

On Tuesday, 30 June 2020, CGIAR-IITA will host a webinar on climate-driven pests and diseases in West Africa under the “One-Health platform for climate-driven pests and diseases in West Africa”. The webinar will take place from 2 to 4 pm West African time. To advance agricultural and food systems, CGIAR instituted eight unique Regional Grand Challenges focusing…

Project to build sustainable cassava seed system in Africa gets new phase

Ibadan, Nigeria: To improve their yields and incomes, African cassava farmers need regular and reliable access to high quality planting materials of the newest and best varieties. Access to such cassava stems, however, is often a problem. Agrodealers don’t sell them, and free distributions by NGOs and government programs are sporadic and unreliable. Consequently, many…

IYA partners with Oyo State Government to resuscitate rural training center

IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) is partnering with the Oyo State Government on revitalizing and using the Rural Community Development Centre (RCDC) in Awe, Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo town, as a satellite site for its youth-in-agribusiness related activities. IYA proposed that the RCDC, which is located about 56 kilometers from Ibadan, be used for…

ACAI partner establishes 492 training plots for scaling AKILIMO

The Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), a primary partner of the Africa Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI), has established and planted 492 validation trial sites for AKILIMO. Also, TFNC set up 46 demonstration sites across the ecological zones covered by ACAI. Planting took place between October 2019 and April 2020 because of the varying ecological…

Paper on using genome-editing tools to develop climate-smart banana varieties among the top-most downloaded

While banana is an important staple crop feeding more than 500 million people in the tropical and subtropical countries, its production is negatively affected by a myriad of factors including diseases and pests, declining soil fertility, and climate change. Efforts to develop improved disease resistant and drought tolerant banana varieties are, however, slowed down by…

IITA and Mastercard Foundation to implement Young Africa Works in Nigeria

The Youth in Agribusiness office of CGIAR-IITA is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation in Nigeria to implement the Young Africa Works strategy. A joint media release on 16 June formally announcing this collaborative effort said that the partnership aims to enable 242,724 young Nigerian women and men to build skills and secure dignified and fulfilling…

Production and distribution of Aflasafe KE01TM continue despite COVID-19 restrictions

As Kenya puts in place measures to protect the lives of its citizens from the devastating coronavirus disease, COVID-19, efforts to also protect lives by ensuring food is safe and free from the devastating aflatoxin have been going on. The team from the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and the International Institute of…

Nodumax production team before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nodumax set for full production despite the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting global food systems, disrupting regional agricultural value chains, and posing risks to household food security. It has created a heightened awareness of food safety among producers, businesses, governments, and consumers. The agricultural input production and supply industry is facing many challenges around production and logistics. This affected the unit at…