News Overview

IITA embraced the One-CGIAR initiative in the past year because a unified CGIAR will be a more effective and impactful organization. Since then, the Institute has participated in the unfolding plans and is strategically positioned to contribute to the One-CGIAR agenda in sub-Saharan Africa. Significant developments have been taking place at IITA and  CGIAR, with bigger plans for 2021.  Following discussions with the Directors General, the CGIAR Executive Management Team (EMT)

An anonymous gift of $2.65 million to support Cornell and partner research in Tanzania will improve distribution of new and more resistant varieties of cassava while empowering women and marginalized groups in the East African nation. Cassava is a fundamental staple and basis of food security for 500 million people across Africa and a major source of employment and income

Scaling innovations has become a top priority in One CGIAR. This means to enable the use of innovations (including products, services, technologies, capacity development, and policies) to have a positive impact on many people across broad geographies. “Securing more rapid uptake of science-driven innovations where they are most needed” is central to the One CGIAR process which takes a

BY VALERIE MUELLER, ANDREW REID BELL AND HONOR DEARLOVE Climate change-driven sea level rise is expected to trigger growing waves of migration away from coastal areas globally. However, our new modeling study of future migration patterns in Bangladesh’s coastal zones—among the world’s most vulnerable to rising seas—contradicts this common assumption. Our modeling scenarios found no realistic level of flooding likely to cause

A small number of farmers pioneering seed production of a novel sorghum variety in Burkina Faso are also breaking new ground on social media. Turning the spotlight on Soubatimi, the new sorghum variety, they have shown a way around one of the biggest roadblocks to Africa’s uptake of game-changing improved crops– unawareness. “Right from our first cropping year of Soubatimi,

Happy World Wetlands Day! Wetlands are “natural harvesters” of water and, by definition, sites where water abounds at or near the surface of the Earth. Throughout human history, they have played an important role in development and watered many great civilizations — among them the Maya, Inca and Aztec in the Americas, the Khmer in Asia, the Marsh Arabs in Mesopotamia

Luka Wanjohi is a regional senior knowledge management associate at the International Potato Center in Uganda and works with the Sweetpotato Genetic Advancement and Innovative Seed Systems (SweetGAINs) project. He spoke with Regional Communications Specialist, Vivian Atakos about how statistics are fueling breakthroughs in plant breeding by streamlining how information is collected and shared. Q:… The post Q&A with Luka

Laura Khor, a WorldFish Research Fellow, earned her Master of Science in Aquaculture from Universiti Malaysia Sabah and is currently working on novel approaches to monitoring and mitigating disease outbreaks in aquaculture. She is developing a suite of virtual courses and online tools to increase the accessibility of information to aquatic food farmers in low- and middle- income countries, eager