News Overview

The IITA’s Research and Delivery leadership team held a quarterly meeting from 24 to 26 June 2025 at the IITA Southern Africa Research and Administration Hub in Lusaka, Zambia. This strategic gathering provided a critical platform for reflection, realignment, and planning around the institute’s research and delivery agenda, especially in light of CGIAR‘s evolving agenda. The meeting brought together Directors and Program

IITA–CGIAR and the Nigerian Army Farms and Ranches Limited (NAFARL) have signed a memorandum of understanding towards bolstering food security, which the army describes as one of the pathways to peace in the country. The signing of the MoU came after the NAFARL delegation’s previous visits to the IITA headquarters to explore available agricultural innovations. At the event, held at the

As part of efforts to advance farmer-centred research and data-driven agricultural development, the IITA-led project, “Strengthening Soybean Improvement for Africa,” funded by the Gates Foundation, organized a training workshop for field agents and experts on the implementation and management of Triadic Comparison of Technologies (Tricot) experiments in Nigeria. The four-day training, themed “High-quality socioeconomic and tricot-specific data collection,” was held at

As part of efforts to build strategic partnerships that will advance Togo’s agricultural transformation agenda, IITA-CGIAR recently welcomed a high-level delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture of Togo, the Institut Togolais de Recherche Agricole (ITRA), and the Agence de Transformation Agricole (ATA) to the institute’s headquarters in Ibadan. The visit focused on exploring concrete opportunities to scale up innovation, enhance sustainability,

Since 2015, Nigeria’s public cassava breeding program, led by IITA in collaboration with the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), has focused on developing new cassava varieties to cater to the diverse needs of cassava users across the value chain. A key aspect of this initiative has been identifying gender-specific traits preferences, ensuring that breeding decisions optimally align with the unique priorities of

In its continued commitment to conserving Nigeria’s threatened and endangered native trees, the IITA Forest Center recently embarked on another strategic round of seed collection. This activity, part of the Center’s conservation mission, focused on enriching the live gene bank at its Tree Heritage Park, popularly known as The Noah’s Ark. It also aimed to expand the number of propagation protocols in the Manual

The ENABLE TAAT initiative is committed to equipping Kenyan youth with the tools and opportunities needed to launch and grow successful agribusinesses. ENABLE TAAT has created pathways for youth who have completed agribusiness training but lack the capital to start their ventures by linking young agripreneurs with key organizations in Makueni County and beyond. The World Food Program (WFP) has been one of the

In a significant step toward enhancing agricultural research and food security in São Tomé and Príncipe, IITA–CGIAR recently hosted four staff members from the National Research Institute of São Tomé and Príncipe (CIAT-STP) for a comprehensive one-month training program. The initiative, held at IITA headquarters in Ibadan, was part of the ongoing collaboration with the COMPRAN project formalized in August 2024, which aims to enhance crop