Inside IITA’s drive to turn breeding science into farmer-ready products
What does it take to develop a crop variety that can withstand disease, perform under difficult environmental conditions, meet consumer preferences, satisfy processors, and ultimately make sense to a farmer?
- breeding
- smallholder farmers
- Products
- breeding for tomorrow
Cover Image: Dr Makram Geha visits IITA–CGIAR’s off-station yam breeding trials at Ikenne alongside IITA scientists, gaining firsthand insight into ongoing efforts to develop improved yam varieties.
What does it take to develop a crop variety that can withstand disease, perform under difficult environmental conditions, meet consumer preferences, satisfy processors, and ultimately make sense to a farmer?
For Makram Geha, Director of CGIAR’s Breeding for Tomorrow (B4T) Science Program, the answer cannot be found in a laboratory alone. During his 14–18 September visit to IITA–CGIAR, Geha toured presentations, laboratories, breeding facilities, research fields, and partner engagements to see how IITA’s breeding programs connect science with the realities of agricultural production.
At the breeding field, the science becomes tangible. The field visit to Ikenne, one of IITA’s off-station sites, provided Geha with firsthand exposure to the program’s work. IITA staff demonstrated efforts to identify disease-resistant varieties, improve flowering to accelerate breeding, develop higher-dry-matter yams for processors, and better understand farmers’ preferences for tuber size and quality. Discussions also explored breeding for resistance to Yam Mosaic Virus (YMV), reducing staking costs, and the potential application of gene-editing technologies in future yam improvement efforts.