IITA News no. 2428 Archives

Dizengoff delegation that visited IITA said they were impressed with IYA model.

Leading Nigerian agricultural company explores areas of collaboration with IITA

On 14 March, a delegation from Dizengoff Nigeria Limited, visited IITA Ibadan to explore, share knowledge, discuss possible commercial ideas that can emanate from IITA’s research and technologies, and establish grounds for future partnership. The team led by Antti Ritvonen, Managing Director of Dizengoff, and accompanied by Damisa Enahoro, Commercial Manager Agriculture, and Oscar Wulumbe,…

Dr Jonas Chianu (2nd from left) leading the dialogue with other stakeholders.

AfDB TAAT mission visits Burundi

An African Development Bank (AfDB) mission on Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) visited Burundi, 5-9 March, to meet and update Burundian authorities and stakeholders in agricultural research and development including donors, farmers, microfinance institutions, and the private sector on the latest on TAAT. The visit was led by Dr Jonas Chianu, AfDB/TAAT Program Director,…

ATTC News: Aflasafe commercialization in full swing

Thanks to more than a decade-and-a-half of dedicated research, we have Aflasafe ready to broadcast onto Africa’s farms. And now, we are working on broadcasting the good news. As part of our communication strategy for the Aflasafe Technology Transfer and Commercialization (ATTC) project, we launched our newsletter, ATTC News, last December. Issue 2 is coming out…

SIMLESA–Africa RISING joint learning event. Photo credit: Jonathan Odhong’/IITA.

Africa RISING, SIIL, and SIMLESA hold joint learning event

If you had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk to a policymaker about systems research in agriculture/sustainable intensification (in sub-Saharan Africa), its value, and why it should be funded, what relevant case studies, high line results, and lessons learned would you share to get a positive response? This was the question posed recently to a group…

Left: A Sigatoka susceptible highland cooking banana. Right: A Sigatoka resistant highland cooking banana developed by IITA. Photos by A. Alakonya, IITA.

Taking stock of efforts to address Pseudocercospora banana pathogens of three deadly banana diseases

R4D Special Black leaf streak disease or black Sigatoka, yellow Sigatoka, and eumusae leaf spot are three closely related and complex diseases that constrain banana and plantain production globally. They are caused by three fungi belonging to the genus Pseudocercospora. These are P. fijiensis, P. musae, and P. eumusae, that cause black Sigatoka, yellow Sigatoka,…

Stakeholders strategize ways to strengthen breeding pipelines in West Africa

An array of institutes and lead specialists on breeding across West Africa convened at IITA-Ibadan for a workshop on 12–15 March, to discuss and exchange ideas on how they can work together to bring best practices and tools that can help them achieve their objectives more effectively, efficiently, and within a relatively shorter time scale….