News Overview

The Maize Association of Nigeria celebrated its 30th Anniversary on 21 March at Arewa Conference Hall in Kaduna. The Association presented numerous awards to Royal Highnesses, research, extension, and financial institutions, and seed and input suppliers. IITA was also given an award for supplying suitable technologies and rendering supportive services in agricultural development for sustainable food security in Nigeria. This celebration took place

An IITA management delegation paid a courtesy visit to the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (UI), Prof Kayode Adebowale, on 24 March. The visit consolidated the longstanding partnership between both institutions as the 13th Vice-Chancellor of the University begins his tenure. In 1967, when IITA was established, Nigeria was in the middle of a civil war. Giving a brief history

Esther Oluwatosin Obafunsho, a young female researcher, recently led IITA’s gender and research team from the Cassava Breeding Unit to conduct fieldwork for a technographic study of cassava users’ activities through case studies in Osun and Imo states in Nigeria. Technography is the observation, description, and study of technologies and their application within a particular ecological, social, and historical context. The

USAID-funded Feed the Future Nigeria Integrated Agriculture Activity (IAA) implemented by IITA and its partners honored 169 stakeholders from Adamawa and Borno states to celebrate 2022 World Agriculture Day. The event in Yola had government officials, dignitaries, and other participants from both states who attended the award ceremony and agriculture exhibitions. IAA Chief of Party Prakash Kant Silwal, who elaborated on this

At the beginning of each year, the CSAT-Mali and CSAT-Niger projects hold evaluation and planning workshops for their activities. Following the suspension of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions, the projects held physical meetings in both locations, from 7 to 14 March in Bamako and from 14 to 18 March in Niamey, respectively. Stakeholders in both countries’ agricultural sectors attended the events. In

Destiny Edoro, a student of Gbagada Senior Grammar School, Bariga, Lagos State, has won the maiden edition of the STEP Agri-Competition. The STEP Agri-Competition, organized by the Innovative Youth in Agriculture (I-Youth) project, targeted students from public secondary schools in Lagos State. The I-Youth project implemented in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation Young Africa Works targets youth between 15 and

The youth compact of the Technologies of African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) has the mandate to empower African youth economically. It does this by exposing youth to agribusiness value chains and various profitability mechanisms. The compact, also called ENABLE-TAAT, has recorded recurring success among the youth who make their livelihood from the aquaculture value chain in Zambia. At the end of 2021, ENABLE-TAAT

A silent revolution is happening in Nigeria’s yam production systems. Pebble-sized seed tubers, known as minitubers by researchers and “chin-chin” yam by farmers affiliated with the Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA II), could change how yam is produced in Nigeria. This follows the experiences of some farmers and seed entrepreneurs like Alhaji Mohammed Isa