IITA News

DG receives prestigious award for championing youth in agriculture programs

The Association of Deans of Agriculture in Nigeria Universities (ADAN) has honored IITA Director General Dr Nteranya Sanginga with an Award of Excellence for successfully pioneering the IITA Youth in Agribusiness program. The award was presented during the 64th annual general meeting of ADAN held recently in Nasarawa State, north-central Nigeria. “We are proud of…

The award recipients: (L-R) Oluwabunmi Deborah Ajamu, Odunayo Elizabeth Akinfala, Olateju Oyelami, and Samuel Alaohuo.

IITA GHU staff awarded Crop Trust’s outstanding Genebank Team (GHU Category) 2021

Crop Trust and the CGIAR Genebank Platform have recognized four staff from the IITA Germplasm Health Unit (GHU) and Virology Unit with the “Outstanding Genebank Team” award for 2021. This accolade acknowledges the overall achievements and contributions of GHU and, specifically, the “Legume Seed Health Testing and Phytosanitation” Team that ensured the genebank operations were…

NARITA hybrids cross borders for farmers’ evaluation in Kenya

In improving banana production in East Africa countries, researchers at Kenyatta University in Kenya are now multiplying and testing for the adoption of NARITA hybrid varieties that are high yielding and resistant to Black Sigatoka disease. Banana is the third most important food after maize and rice, with an annual production of 1.5 million tons,…

IITA partners with other organizations to improve the vitamin A status of Nigerians

The Modified Relative Dose Response (MRDR) test is being conducted as part of the ongoing national nutritional survey organized by the Federal Government of Nigeria in conjunction with IITA and other partners. The MRDR test assesses the vitamin A status of people. Participants from Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones were trained to carry out the test…

Assistant Director, President’s Office, praises IITA research in Tanzania

The Assistant Director for Technical Cooperation at the President’s Office, Public Service Management (POPSM), Mr Msafiri Marwa, has commended IITA Tanzania for its research efforts in transforming agriculture in Tanzania. Msafiri said this when he led a POPSM delegation to IITA-Eastern Africa hub offices in July in Mikocheni, Dar es salaam. The objective of the…

IITA kicks off project to transform livelihoods and conservation

IITA has commenced a 3-year participatory research project to identify transformative approaches to indigenous women and young people’s engagement in integrated livelihood and conservation initiatives. The project titled “Transformative approaches to livelihood and conservation: Learning from indigenous women and youth—IWY (TALC)” aims to investigate the impact of existing livelihood and conservation efforts on indigenous forest-dependent…

75 youth-led enterprises adopt value addition in Uganda

ENABLE-TAAT has organized an in-depth mentorship and capacity development exercise benefitting 75 youth in Kalangala, Uganda. Many of the beneficiaries are enterprise owners at different levels in various value chains. The learning exercise aimed to inspire the youth to generate income through the various food commodities available under the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT)…

Redefining data collection to empower decision-makers to address malnutrition

Malnutrition is a challenge in Africa, and the limited availability of data about its severity makes it more difficult to address. Data gathering methods and frameworks are demonstrably inadequate, and failing infrastructure hinders effective data collection logistics. Researchers from IITA, the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, University of California, Davis (UC-Davis), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial…

Gender equality can boost food security through sustainable systems

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) researchers had adopted a scoping review in a recently published United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) brief to assess the current evidence on pathways between gender equality, women’s empowerment, and food systems. Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in food systems can result in greater food security and…

New project to improve over 5,000 smallholder coffee farmers’ livelihoods in the Mount Elgon Region

In Uganda, the GIZ Employment and Skills for Development in Africa (E4D) program partnered with IITA-Uganda and Olam Food Ingredients (OFI) to improve the livelihoods of 5,000 coffee farmers in the Mount Elgon region of the country. Instead of blanket support provided through traditional service delivery models, the partnership will co-design a suite of scientifically…