News Overview

Dr Anxious Masuka, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, during a recent visit to the ICRISAT Matopos Research Center, called for continued close collaboration between the Government of Zimbabwe and ICRISAT to ensure the benefits of research quickly reach poorly-resourced communal farmers and help Zimbabwe achieve a middle income economy by 2030. Dr Masuka informed that

A team of researchers has zeroed in on little millet germplasm with high nutrients, high yield and biomass potential following analysis of the crop’s 200 landraces conserved at ICRISAT’s Genebank in India. These landraces hold the key to developing nutritious and high-yielding varieties of the crop, which can prove significant for food systems in drylands facing changing climate, the scientists

Two improved groundnut varieties have helped a group of farmers in Ghana increase their yields five-fold, breaking a three-decade stranglehold on the crop’s productivity. The improved varieties, SARINUT 1 and SARINUT 2, are also combating devastating afflictions of groundnut production like leaf spot disease in the country’s Savanna Region. The farmers’ group, Soglokonbo Groundnut Farmers Association in the region’s East

Two improved groundnut varieties have helped a group of farmers in Ghana increase their yields five-fold, breaking a three-decade stranglehold on the crop’s productivity. The improved varieties, SARINUT 1 and SARINUT 2, are also combating devastating afflictions of groundnut production like leaf spot disease in the country’s Savanna Region. The farmers’ group, Soglokonbo Groundnut Farmers Association in the region’s East

The value added of new cowpea variety The IT89KD-288 dual-purpose cowpea variety, producing grain and fodder for animal and human consumption is increasingly considered attractive, thanks to increased income per household improving livelihoods. Since the development in 1990s, as a key driver to agricultural income growth, the cowpea varieties have made impact on the poorest people in Nigeria. The standalone innovation (variety)

With Africa’s population predicted to double by 2050, creating challenges such as high unemployment rates, low income, food insecurity, and persistent poverty, there needs to be a systemic change targeting the continent’s youth, who will make up about 60% of the overall population. IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga highlighted some of the required systemic changes in a joint IPS News Agency op-ed with Young Africa Works

One Health is a concept that recognizes that the health of people is linked to the health of animals and their shared environment. A One Health approach in preventing and controlling diseases therefore involves the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines and sectors. This approach is especially useful for managing zoonoses, diseases that are transmitted between animals and people. The International

WorldFish executive director of Strategy, Innovation, and Communications, Tana Lala-Pritchard,  is the 2020 recipient of the Distinguished Alumna Award by the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society in the USA. The award recognizes past high-achieving university students — across all academic disciplines — who graduated in the top 10 percent in the USA and have used their academic excellence and scholarship