IITA News

Over 400 applications received for CARE fellowship from across Africa

Following the call for applications, the Enhancing Capacity to Apply Research Evidence (CARE) in policy for youth engagement in agribusiness and rural economic activities in Africa project received over 400 applications from across Africa for the three-year research grant. The fellowship under the framework of the CARE project, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural…

Publication showcases 50 years of IITA’s plant health research

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH), with the objective to raise global awareness on how protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development. IITA joins the rest of the world in commemorating this. In 2019, a new…

How wasps are used to control the destructive cowpea pest—Maruca vitrata

Maruca vitrata, also known as Maruca pod borer, is one of the most devastating insect pests of cowpea in Africa. Its larvae stage, the caterpillar, is the most destructive and attacks flowers and pods of various legumes causing up to 80% yield loss. Farmers resort to inappropriate pesticide applications with some spraying the legume as…

IITA builds six cassava processing factories in Liberia

The former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, entrusted IITA with a project to build six processing factories in Liberia within two months. It was the end of her tenure and the close of the financial year, but Mrs Sirleaf wanted the factories built and commissioned before her retirement, as it was her brainchild. IITA…

Study finds that growing own food is better than relying on markets

Think back over the last month. What types of food have you and your family consumed? Have you eaten a balanced and diversified diet? The answer may not matter; what matters is who or what influenced your food choices. These and more are the questions that researchers from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)…

Banana plants’ defense against deadly wilting disease may be in the soil

Fusarium wilt, a soilborne fungal disease popularly known as Panama disease, is one of the most devastating diseases of banana. It is responsible for the crop’s declining yield in the Great Lakes region of Africa, where banana is a major source of food and income for millions of smallholder farmers. The disease is spread by…

Belgian Ambassador visits the President Olusegun Obasanjo Research Campus in DRC

On 17 February, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mr Jo Indekeu, visited IITA’s President Olusegun Obasanjo research Campus in Kalambo, Democratic Republic of Congo. His wife accompanied him along with his Political Advisor Mrs Séverine de POTTER. The purpose of the visit was to familiarize themselves…

Harmony with nature: The story of Alec Butler

As a research institute, the main business of IITA centers on science and measurable data. However, walking or driving into the IITA headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria for the first time may leave you feeling like you just stepped out of reality and into a fairytale. Such is the beauty and excellence of the one thousand…

IITA supports formation of Tanzania Cassava Producers and processors Association (TACAPPA)

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has collaborated with other stakeholders to develop and launch the Tanzania Cassava Producers and Processors Association (TACCAPA), which brings together cassava producers and processors to address bottlenecks and challenges facing production and utilization of the crop in the country. The Tanzania Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Omary Mgumba,…

Youth Agripreneurs day out at Fasola Grammar School

The Start Them Early Program (STEP), which operates under the IITA Youth in Agribusiness office, focuses on how to advance agribusiness development to secondary schools in Africa. It aims at redirecting the aspirations of young people in secondary schools towards careers in modern agriculture by exposing them to viable opportunities in agribusiness at an early…