IITA News

Wodada Wilberforce from IITA interviewing farmers for a survey

Middlemen play a vital role in strengthening Ugandan coffee value chain, study finds

In many countries in Africa, middlemen are often perceived as the “bad guys” out to exploit and defraud farmers. However, a study by IITA found that on the contrary, middlemen play an important part in the Ugandan coffee value chain. It further recommends the exploration of opportunities to include middlemen as active contributors in building…

The IITA Forest Center maintains a rigorous system of nature conservation in its parks and forest.

IITA celebrates World Environment Day

To celebrate this year’s World Environment Day, the CGIAR-IITA Forest Center, Corporate Services Directorate, and Communication Office organized a virtual event on 5 June as part of activities to create awareness and action for protecting the environment. The theme for this year’s event, which is celebrated annually, was “Time for Nature” to emphasize the importance…

Agribusiness made easy through the use of ICT

IITA partners with Mastercard Foundation in Nigeria to implement Young Africa Works

Lagos, Nigeria 16 June, 2020 – The International Institute of Topical Agriculture (IITA), through its Youth in Agribusiness office, is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation in Nigeria to implement the Young Africa Works strategy. The partnership aims to enable 242,724 young Nigerian women and men to build skills and secure dignified and fulfilling work opportunities…

IITA alumnus named 2020 World Food Prize Laureate!

The World Food Prize Foundation, on 11 June, announced leading soil scientist and IITA alumnus Dr Rattan Lal, as the 50th World Food Prize Laureate. The Foundation’s Selection Committee chose Dr Lal for “developing and mainstreaming a soil-centric approach to increasing food production while conserving natural resources and mitigating climate change.” World Food Prize Foundation…

Top Tanzanian officials seek ONE-CGIAR collaboration on scaling research technologies

The Permanent Secretary (PS) at the Tanzania Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Ms Dorothy Mwaluko, has identified the scaling up of innovative technologies from research to farmers as a major challenge to the growth of the agriculture sector in the country and therefore a priority area of collaboration with ONE CGIAR. The PS noted that farmers…

IITA Cameroon lends a helping hand to farmers’ coop at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic

Cameroon, like other countries in the world, is at the moment grappling with the effect of the coronavirus, having recorded over 6,000 cases so far. Despite the ravaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, IITA-Cameroon has collaborated with the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) to give a helping hand to members of some…

Tanzania: Postharvest innovations key to raising youth involvement in horticulture

Horticulture is a field of agriculture that involves a short growing season averaging three months and offers quick yields and returns on investments despite the high rate of postharvest losses. In Tanzania, with the Government-initiated National Strategy for Youth Involvement in Agriculture (NYSIA) for 2016–2021, horticulture is one viable option that would give Tanzanian youth…

Development partners meet to address Africa’s food security amid COVID-19

In 2018, over 200 million people in Africa were undernourished due to food shortages. The advent of coronavirus has added another dimension to this issue. An examination of these problems led to the World Bank and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convening a virtual conference to put together a response plan to address…

COVID19 – Work in shifts, researchers advise yam seed producers and farmers

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, governments all over the world have instituted specific measures such as physical distancing and staying at home. Unfortunately, for farmers, time is of the essence since the rainy season is here and it will soon end, – whether we are facing a pandemic or not. For farmers, the rains…

Manual weeding is labour intensive and cumbersome which causes farmers to delay weeding their cassava fields. Weeds account for over 30% in yeild loss

Scientists recommend additional herbicides for weed control in cassava farming

Cassava is the second most-consumed staple food after maize in sub-Saharan Africa, feeding more than 300 million people. Nigeria is the world’s biggest producer of cassava at 59 million tons per year. However, this food security crop that can tolerate prolonged droughts is yet to attain its yield potential. Smallholder farmers in Africa harvest 8‒12…