News

On 25 June, IITA launched the second phase of the project Building an Economically Sustainable and Integrated Cassava Seed System (BASICS II). With a duration of 5 years, BASICS II will be led by Project Manager Lateef Oladimeji Sanni, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

CGIAR-IITA plant health scientist James Legg was a recent guest on Plantopia, a podcast series to mark the International Year of Plant Health, and interviewed by Cornell University’s David Gadoury.

Prevention, early detection and control make up the three-pronged approach that Africa is taking on to manage the menace of invasive species on the continent. As the climate continues to change, invasive species also continue to increase and spread globally.

On Tuesday, 30 June 2020, CGIAR-IITA will host a webinar on climate-driven pests and diseases in West Africa under the “One-Health platform for climate-driven pests and diseases in West Africa”.

To improve their yields and incomes, African cassava farmers need regular and reliable access to high quality planting materials of the newest and best varieties.  Access to such cassava stems, however, is often a problem.  Agrodealers don’t sell them, and free distributions by NGOs and government programs are sporadic and unreliable.

Lagos, Nigeria 16 June, 2020 – The International Institute of Topical Agriculture (IITA), through its Youth in Agribusiness office, is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation in Nigeria to implement the Young Africa Works strategy.

The World Food Prize Foundation, on 11 June, announced leading soil scientist and IITA alumnus Dr Rattan Lal, as the 50th World Food Prize Laureate. The Foundation’s Selection Committee chose Dr Lal

The Permanent Secretary (PS) at the Tanzania Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Ms Dorothy Mwaluko, has identified the scaling up of innovative technologies from research to farmers as a major challenge to the growth of the agriculture sector in the country and therefore a priority area of collaboration with ONE CGIAR.

In 2018, over 200 million people in Africa were undernourished due to food shortages. The advent of coronavirus has added another dimension to this issue. An examination of these problems led to the World Bank and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convening a virtual conference to put together a response plan to address these issues.