IITA News

Tanzania’s traditional cooking banana yields more than expected!

The yield potential of an important cooking banana in Tanzania, known as Mchare, has exceeded expectations! Yields of up to 51 t/ha/year were obtained by the study team. Mchare, alongside Uganda’s “Matooke” is one of the East Africa Highland (EAHB) bananas that are cultivated both for food and income by millions of smallholder farmers in…

STEP-Kenya motivates students at CSAYN forum

On 20 February, the IITA Start Them Early Program (STEP) team from Kenya attended a forum of the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN) at the University of Nairobi, Upper Kabete campus. The STEP team comprised Lorraine Mutinda, Samuel Kamau, Maryfaith Simiyu, and Stallone Mambo, a student representative from Mwiki Secondary School. The Principal of…

Rwanda launches soil information service program to provide soil composition and fertility recommendations

The Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources through the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resource Development Board (RAB), in collaboration with the IITA in Rwanda, launched the Rwanda Soil Information Service (RwaSIS) program. The launch event took place in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, from 13 to 14 February. The program, which has a duration of…

Study group from The Gambia visits ENABLE Youth Cameroon

From 2 to 6 December 2019, IITA Cameroon hosted a delegation from The Gambia on a study trip to ENABLE Youth Cameroon to learn from its experience in youth in agribusiness. The visit also served as an opportunity to lay the foundation for beneficial cooperation between IITA and the Government of The Gambia in view…

IITA’s seed tracker App now available on your phone

After years of concerted efforts, IITA together with the Nigeria Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) have institutionalized SeedTracker, an ICT system facilitating real-time e-certification. The App is now available for free via Google’s PlayStore and is being expanded to include other crops, not only cassava. “This tracker has the ability to transform seed systems; not just…

Forward movement for STEP as teams exceed 6-month target

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) had a 6-month review meeting with the Start Them Early Program (STEP) team in Kenya on 13 February. The meeting was chaired by Jemimah Njuki, a Senior Program Specialist at IDRC and the Director-General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga. The meeting was attended by the STEP-Kenya team: Paul Woomer,…

Spraying locust swarm is ineffective – IITA entomologist

As Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya battle huge swarms of desert locusts, great efforts are underway to control these destructive insects. These locusts, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are twice as big in body size and destruction potential. Verenado Meeme talked to one of our entomologists, Peter Neuenschwander about solutions that can bring…

Scientists develop effective tool for exploring the genetic diversity of the bacterial wilt pathogen in banana and enset in East and Central Africa

One of the diseases affecting banana in East and Central Africa and threatening the food and income of over 70 million people is Xanthomonas wilt (XW), a disease caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum (Xvm). The disease also attacks enset, an ancient false banana indigenous to Ethiopia, where it was first reported in…

STEP makes progress promoting agribusiness in secondary schools in Africa

Since its inception in 2019, the IITA Start Them Early Program (STEP) team has been working tirelessly towards advancing agribusiness development in secondary schools in Africa. The aim is to redirect the aspirations of Africans towards careers in modern agriculture by exposing them to viable opportunities in agribusiness at an early age. To achieve this,…

IITA’s labor of love, transforming African Agriculture

To love, or not to love, that is not the question! How to love…now that is real the question. Since 1967, IITA has been on a journey of love, developing solutions to eradicate hunger by ensuring food security, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The Institute has done this by championing research to increase crop yield and…