News Overview

IITA and the Ogun Ministry of Agriculture met recently to discuss a #digital agriculture project that involves co-creating a digital agricultural information system platform, registering about 100,000 smallholder farmers, and undertaking a baseline survey among farmers. An IITA delegation from the Digital Delivery Working Group led by Lava Kumar, Head of the Germplasm Health Unit & Virology and co-lead of the Working Group, with Alfred Dixon, Director

IITA recently launched a project on reducing postharvest losses across the Vitamin A cassava (VAC) and Vitamin A maize (VAM) value chains. The project, being implemented in partnership with HarvestPlus and Harvestfield, was launched virtually across Anambra, Cross River, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Niger Osun, and Oyo states in Nigeria. The project aims to improve the adoption of postharvest loss reduction practices

Climate change affects the environment extensively in socioeconomic and related sectors, including agriculture and food and nutritional security for the growing global population. To address this urgent need, Africa needs to adopt sustainable intensification of agriculture to close the yield gap in staple crops, where tools, including biotechnology and traditional approaches, are recommended for crop improvement. The recent study titled “Genome

On 24 May, the Halleluya Techno-based Agro Farm Estate team visited IITA. The team, which launched its farm in 2018, seeks to partner with IITA and other agricultural institutes like the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and WorldFish to scale agricultural production. The group consisting of Chairman Bosun Arebua, Business Development Manager Cliff Odogun, and General Manager Ezekiel Akingboye, met with IITA management staff. The

IITA, in partnership with the Innovation Lab for Policy Leadership in Agriculture and Food Security (PiLAF) and Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA), organized a one-day workshop with the theme, “Enhancing the Status of Agricultural Equipment Fabrication for Food Security in Oyo State”. The workshop aimed to address the need for modern agricultural equipment manufacturers to strategically meet the demands of partners, investors, and

Plantain (Musa spp.) is a staple food crop and a key source of income supporting the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, pests and diseases, synthetic chemicals, and climate variation threaten production and productivity. A recent study titled “Subterranean Microbiome Affiliations of Plantain (Musa spp.) under Diverse Agroecologies of West and Central Africa” published in Microbial Ecology explored

Researchers, civil society organizations, and private and public sector stakeholders from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria converged at the Annual CocoaSoils Week 2022 at IITA headquarters, Ibadan, from 9 to 11 May. The event aimed to facilitate expert discussions on progress towards closing knowledge gaps in cocoa production and outline the priority areas for the program’s next phase. It also aimed

To commemorate this year’s World Food Safety Day (7 June) under the theme Safer food, better health, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has launched an online food safety campaign and landing page to showcase its collaborative research on risk-based approaches to improving food safety in low- and middle-income countries. Visit the landing page to read key food safety messages