Earlier this month, we launched the Africa Regional Hub for Fertilizer and Soil Health, a groundbreaking initiative to enhance agricultural productivity and food security while addressing climate challenges. The Hub, financed to the tune of $10 million for the next five years by the World Bank through the Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project, aims to
In the wake of the current food crisis in the nation, a state of emergency on food security has been declared. The government has called for the use of vast lands owned by the Nigerian military for farming to combat food insecurity in Nigeria. Hence, the Nigerian Army Farms and Ranches Limited (NAFARL) visited IITA on 25 July to explore agricultural solutions
In a significant step towards enhancing maize farming practices, the RadioIITA Farmers Outreach, in collaboration with the Maize Improvement Program, has successfully empowered maize farmers with critical agricultural knowledge and skills. The initiative, designed as a Training of Trainers (ToT) program, aims to equip farmers with the expertise to improve their agricultural practices and train other farmers within their cooperatives and communities.
Urbanization negatively affects biodiversity worldwide, making associations between urbanization and avian communities an imperative study. The Head IITA of Forest Center, Adewale Awoyemi, recently published his third PhD paper, alongside other authors, reporting how urbanization affects bird taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in the Afrotropics. The authors compared bird populations in urban and non-urban areas from two vegetation zones in Nigeria:
Emerging trends in experimental research are proving crucial across various scientific fields, particularly in animal nutrition. This field is transitioning from conventional experimental methods to the innovative approach of nutrigenomics. Nutrigenomics combines nutrition principles and genomics to understand how diet influences gene expression and overall animal health. This modern approach enables more precise and modified nutritional strategies, optimizing animal health
A delegation from Aletheia University, Ago Iwoye in Ogun state paid an exploratory visit to IITA–CGIAR headquarters in Ibadan on 31 July. The visit aimed to gain insights into the Institute’s research innovations, discuss strategic areas for collaboration, and formalize a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between IITA and Aletheia University. In his welcome address, the IITA Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery
On 25 July, IITA–CGIAR, under the HealthyDiets4Africa Project, funded by the EU, launched its third living lab in Accra as part of its innovative strategies to combat malnutrition in Ghana and beyond by generating access to more diverse diets for target populations and supporting consumers’ dietary changes toward more diverse diets that are safe to consume. During the opening ceremony, IITA Ghana Country
Engaging youths in agricultural entrepreneurship is crucial in alleviating the increasingly growing youth unemployment and boosting rural transformation. This is prompting most countries and national and international development partners to prioritize agricultural entrepreneurship as a means of economic growth. With this in mind, IITA has initiated a program targeting young agripreneurs in a bid to develop entrepreneurship in agri-business through imparting skills