IITA News

Cavies are not rats! They’re a source of protein and income – study

New research by scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Wageningen University reveals that cavies are an essential source of animal protein, especially for children. They are also a source of income and manure for crop production in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Titled “Micro-livestock in smallholder farming systems: The…

YIIFSWA-II participates in commercial plant tissue culture production training

On 17 January, YIIFSWA-II’s Tissue Culture Specialist, Morufat Balogun attended a one-day training on commercial plant tissue culture production hosted by Phytotech LABS in Chicago, Illinois, USA. According to Balogun, the participants learned about plant tissue culture best practices and participated in hands-on training to bolster the theoretical lessons of the workshop. She said, “The training…

Aflatoxin mitigation in Sudan gets boost with multi-stakeholder partnership

Samil Industrial Co., in collaboration with IITA, hosted a workshop in late 2019 in Al Salam Rotana Hotel, Khartoum, Sudan, to inaugurate the Multi-stakeholder Partnership for Aflatoxin Mitigation in Sudan. The Minister of Agriculture, H.E. Issa Osman Sharif inaugurated the workshop, which involved representatives from many sectors. These included government institutes, universities, research institutes, the…

IITA partners with Cornell University and University of Ghana to train on Genome editing

“History must not repeat itself” is the mantra behind the thinking and actions of development partners and African research scientists. There have been three revolutions in agriculture so far, and it’s a pity Africa did not benefit much from any of them. When other parts of the world mechanized their agriculture, Africa did not. Then…

Do not regulate genome-edited crops – IITA woman scientist

11 February was the International Day for Women and Girls in Science. IITA joined the rest of the world to celebrate the contribution of our women scientists in ensuring a food and nutrition-secure world. Women account for half of the world’s population and we cannot make representative and long-lasting changes in agriculture without them. As United Nations…

YIIFSWA-II participates in Plant and Animal Genome Conference (PAG XXVIII) in San Diego

Billed as the largest Plant and Animal Genome meeting in the world, scientists from around the world converged at San Diego, California, USA, for PAG XXVIII from 11 to 15 January to promote research discoveries, exchange ideas, and gain new insights on plant and animal genome research and development. YIIFSWA-II scientists, Norbert Maroya and Morufat…

IYA celebrates success in its youth empowerment programs for 2019

Since its inception in 2012, the IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) has been working tirelessly, creating capacity development programs and projects to engage youth in agribusiness. Although IYA has experienced challenges in accessing funds and credit facilities to assist some of the trained youth in establishing and expanding their agribusinesses, about 7,000 youth have benefited from…

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo joins the bandwagon, elated about recent seed yam harvest

Wind back to mid-2019, to be exact 25 May. At the commissioning ceremony of the Senator Abiola Ajimobi Ring Road, Agricultural Transformation Building, and presentation of the OYSG Agricultural Policy Framework developed by IITA and NISER, President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed interest in setting up a one-hectare seed yam production for quality seed yam. This he…