cassava Archives - Page 12 of 14

Cassava innovation challenge: we need ideas

Do you have ideas about how to extend the shelf life of cassava? And making the cassava root last longer on the ground after harvest? Then send your entry here latest by Friday, 7 July 2016 and stand a chance to get up to $1 million in funds to upscale your idea. All the tips…

Picture of Youth Agripreneurs preparing food products during the training

ATASP-1 trains youth agripreneurs on sorghum, rice, and cassava value chains

The six-day specialized commodities training organized by ATASP-1 for youth agripreneurs has just ended at the IITA Abuja station. The training drew over 40 participants from Kano, Rivers, and Abuja, and was facilitated by the ATASP-1 Cassava, Rice and Sorghum Commodity Specialists including Richardson Okechukwu of IIITA, Philip Idinoba of AfricaRice, and Hakeem Ajeigbe of…

Photo at World Economic Forum Africa Annual Meeting, Kigali, Rwanda.

Rockefeller Foundation provides up to US$1 million in grants for global cassava innovations

The Rockefeller Foundation, Dalberg, and IITA, launched on 12 May an Innovation Challenge to uncover innovative solutions to increase cassava shelf life in Nigeria. The Challenge was announced at the World Economic Forum – Africa annual meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, and will provide up to US$1 million in funding, as well as technical assistance to…

Picture of Virologist Lava Kumar, project lead, explains the importance of the CDS platform

IITA and NAQS pilot digital Cassava Disease Surveillance platform

IITA has launched a digital surveillance platform called Cassava Disease Surveillance (CDS) to facilitate cassava disease surveillance in Nigeria. “The CDS is a virtual network for rapid diagnosis of cassava diseases, communication, and coordinated deployment of emergency response,” said Lava Kumar, IITA Virologist and lead investigator of the CDS project. This interactive program—accessible through any…

Picture of IITA DG Nteranya Sanginga talks about how to increase cassava productivity.

New project to build commercially sustainable cassava seed system

A four-year project (2015–2019) to develop a commercially sustainable cassava seed value chain in Nigeria, was launched on 18 April at IITA headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria. Titled ‘Building a Sustainable, Integrated Seed System for Cassava in Nigeria’ (BASICS), the US$11.6 million project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and led by the…

Making large scale-cassava drying technologies work for small-scale processors

One of the greatest challenges facing smallholder farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs in processing cassava is drying. Many of them rely on sun-drying which limits processing during the rainy season as well as affects the overall quality. As a result they are not able to supply their produce to industries which need regular, all-year-round supply and…

Picture of Cassava breeders in East Africa hub.

IITA cassava breeders mull new strategy to step up efforts and embrace technology for quicker delivery

All the IITA cassava breeders convened at the Institute’s Eastern Africa hub in Dar es Salaam to develop a strategy to guide and shape IITA’s efforts to develop improved cassava varieties suited to mechanized production that are high yielding and resistant to the major diseases and pests affecting the crop’s production in sub-Saharan Africa in…

Cassava commercialization project launched in Malawi

In its unceasing efforts to support Malawi to improve rural livelihoods IITA launched a new cassava project “Promoting cassava commercialization for increased income, employment and food security in Malawi” on 8 March in Lilongwe. The project, which is funded by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ)-Malawi, focuses on (1) Facilitating the development of strong…

Call for sustainable and diversified production

In an interview, IITA Deputy Director General for Research for Development, Ylva Hillbur, reiterated that drought tolerant crops would be extremely important in countries facing the effects of climate change like Zambia. “You also need to diversify and have different varieties of cash crops such as legumes, cowpeas and integrate cassava. We need to move…

CMS Project holds Review and Planning Workshop; hosts Gates Foundation Senior Program officer

The Cassava Monitoring Survey (CMS) in Nigeria held its Annual Review and Planning Workshop on 5 February. The workshop drew participants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Root Crop Research Institute, Umudike, and IITA. Victor Manyong, IITA Director for Eastern Africa and leader of the social science research group, during the opening…