IITA News

Why it’s essential to pay attention to plant health

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH). The objective of IYPH is 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 IYPH. Over the…

A group discussion in progress during the Africa RISING Program Learning Event held on 5 - 8 February 2019 in Malawi. Photo credit: Simret Yasabu/ILRI.

What’s in a name? Africa RISING partners aim for common understanding of terminologies

Words like ‘innovation’, ‘spillover’, ‘adoption’, ‘technology’, and others are often parts of the daily lexicon of agricultural researchers and development practitioners. But what’s in a name? Does everybody mean the same thing whenever they use these terminologies? More importantly for a research-in-development project like Africa RISING, does everybody apply the same parameters when measuring them?…

Picture of staff members enjoying their lunch at the IITA staff canteen

What’s for lunch?

The staff lunch has been a staple at IITA, Ibadan, for the longest time.

Picture of Atta-Krah making his presentation on systems research

What is IITA’s position in ongoing systems research and site integration of the CGIAR?

Humidtropics has been shut down but systems research is still alive and thriving and the concept has been mainstreamed in all CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs). The challenge now is the mechanism for the mainstreaming,” said Kwesi Atta-Krah as he updated IITA staff on the systems and site integration initiatives of CGIAR. Systems research, he said,…

Picture of Baijukya giving a briefing on the long-term trials

What are the long-term effects of fertilizers and inoculants? N2Africa project tries to find out

“We are asking farmers to use inoculants and fertilizers while growing their soybean. We know some of the applied nutrients such as P and K remain in the soil as not all is taken up by the crop. We also ask farmers to rotate soybean and other crops such as maize and they also use…

What about climate change and coffee production?

A groundbreaking study in Tanzania has revealed figures quantifying the impact decades of climate change has had on coffee production with increasing night time temperatures shown to be the biggest climatic cause of diminishing coffee yields. While scientists had long predicted that global production of the Coffea arabica species would suffer from climate change, this…

Picture of stakeholders, including IITA, came together in Yaounde, Cameroon, to discuss how to control FAW

West and Central Africa rally against fall armyworm

A two-day high-level meeting on controlling fall armyworm (FAW) in West and Central Africa took place on 11 and 12 September in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Welcome to incoming board chair, Amos NamangaNgongi

Amos NamangaNgongi is the new IITA Board Chair effective end of April 2018. He takes over from Bruce Coulman of the University of Saskatchewan.

Picture of Gbassey Tarawali, Head of the Abuja Station, welcoming the AfDB delegation and guests

Welcome to Abuja!

Gbassey Tarawali, Head of station and leader of an ongoing IITA-led AfDB-funded project ATASP 1 (Agricultural Transformation Agenda Support program) welcomed the dignitaries.

David Chikoye gives an overview on the status of research on plant production and health.

We are alert and ready for new plant pests and diseases!

Crop pests and diseases cause significant yield losses to smallholder farmers within sub-Saharan Africa. More than 16% of farm productivity losses are attributable to crop pests; this is expected to get worse with the effects of climate change in the region. What is IITA’s response to these challenges? Is the Institute already investing resources to…