Congo Archives | Page 15 of 17

Dr Nzola Mahungu (first from left) explains IITA’s work on CMD to IFAD’s Racha Omar (second from right)

Racha Omar, representative of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Congo, visited IITA-Kinshasa and different community sites in DRC supported by the Institute on 20 August to witness IITA’s work in the fight against the devastating cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and the inclusion of the value chain approach to agricultural development.

CMD–the widespread and most severe factor limiting production in sub-Saharan Africa–is caused by cassava mosaic geminiviruses which are transmitted by a whitefly vector, Bemisia tabaci (Genn). CMD-affected plants produce few or no sizable roots, depending on the severity of the disease and the age of the plant at the time of infection. Nine countries across East and Central Africa are affected by this p andemic.

Annual losses in storage root yield across sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to be between 15% and 24%, equivalent to 12- 23 million tons or US$1.2 to 2.3 billion.

Efforts being adopted by IITA to curb this trend include varietal improvement, multiplication, and distribution of diseasefree cuttings. The Institute is providing a system of agriculture, rich in quantity and quality, to provide support to food security and also to sustainable development through the deployment of activities that generate revenue through cassava that can meet the basic needs of primary health care and children’s education.

“I see that the close collaboration IITA has with its beneficiaries, the techniques implemented in the fight against CMD, and the adoption of the value chain approach are indeed providing answers. We will reflect internally to see the possibility of developing a project with IITA adopting the same practices in the Republic of Congo.” Racha Omar said.

For more details, please contact: Catherine Njuguna, c.njuguna@cgiar.org

About IITA www.iita.org

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is one of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Its award-winning research for development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 in Nigeria and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana/plantain, yam, cassava, and maize. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.

DG Sanginga in a h and shake with DR Congo’s President, His excellency Joseph Kabila Kabange at the launch of the Agribusiness Park in Bukanga Lonzo

The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), His Excellency Joseph Kabila Kabange and Dr Nteranya Sanginga, IITA’s Director General met last Tuesday at the opening of the Bukanga Lonzo agribusiness park to exchange ideas on the role of agriculture and agribusiness for economic growth in the DR Congo.

Since most of the country’s present growth heavily depends on the mining sector, the DR Congo could develop its agricultural potentials through applied research leading to the employment of more than 70% of its population. Also, the climatic and ecological diversity and abundant water enables two annual harvests of a wide variety of crops incountry, demonstrating why the DR Congo is also called “L and of Plenty”.

President Kabila recognized the good prospects that IITA’s research and postharvest innovations are bringing to his country by inviting IITA as a potential partner in the establishment of agribusiness parks throughout the DR Congo. The parks will service small, medium and big size farmers with publicprivate partnerships.

The pace for facilitating the highlevel meeting at Bukanga Lonzo was set throughout the establishment of the IITA Science Building in Bukavu, South Kivu province in Eastern DR Congo accompanied by IITA’s high level advocacy efforts in Kinshasa. It led to the presence of various government officials at the official launch of the IITA Science building on June 6th, which included the Governors of North- and South Kivu and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Jean-Chrysostome V. Mukesyayira, who officially represented President Kabila. The launch was followed by a visit from DR Congo’s First Lady, Madame Olive Lembe Kabila, to witness first-h and IITA’s post-harvest innovations and cassava and soy bean value chain product development that IITA is pioneering in the DR Congo.

The meeting of DG Sanginga and President Kabila sets another milestone in validating the excellent relations between the Government of DR Congo and IITA.

For more details, please contact: Andrea Gros, a.gros@cgiar.org

About IITA www.iita.org

Photo of His Excellency Olive Lembe — Her Excellency Olive Lembe Kabila, DRC first lady (third from left).

Madame Olive Lembe Kabila, the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo, paid a visit to the IITA-Kalambo Station on 7 July. She was accompanied by her children, the South Kivu Governor, and top government officials.

Dr Chris Okafor, IITA-Kalambo Officer in Charge, and Dr Marie Yomeni, SARD-SC Cassava Commodity Specialist, received the visitors and took them on a tour of the station. This included the fabrication unit, processing units for cassava and soybean, the product exhibition center, greenhouse, e-library, and laboratories.

The First Lady showed her keen interest in the facilities which were established because of the pressing need for improved agroprocessing technologies and agroprocessed foods in DRC. During the tour, she was briefed about the cost of the agroprocessing equipment, how cassava and soybean processing technologies would be extended to farmers and agroprocessors, the use of crop diversification to minimize farmers’ risks, soil and plant analyses, and fertilizer application.

The First Lady inquired about how the dissemination of improved technologies was taking care of women’s needs. She was assured that IITA had the capacity and technologies to address the issues she raised and was willing to support and collaborate with her initiatives, especially in North Kivu and Katanga provinces.

In her parting words, she wrote in the visitors’ book “Je suis impressionnée par la qualité de cet Institut avec tout son personnel. Ceci dit là où sont les humains, il y aura toujours évolution de la science………… Merci pour cet accueil aussi chaleureux.” “I am impressed by the quality of this Institution and its staff… meaning that where human beings are, evolution of science always occurs. Thank you for your warm welcome.”

For more details, please contact: Andrea Gros, a.gros@cgiar.org

About IITA www.iita.org

Kalambo, South Kivu 05 June 2013 — The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), an international agriculture research center, has created a research center in Kalambo, south Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to support agricultural development in the Central African region. IITA has been working in DRC for the last 40 years.

The center will be launched today, 5 June 2014, in an event that has attracted key policymakers, representatives of the donor community, development practitioners, researchers, and farmers from the DRC and neighboring countries.

The center includes laboratories with state-of-the art equipment to conduct research and facilities for training on the processing of the region’s staple crops, such as cassava and soybean.

While speaking at a press briefing yesterday evening, South Kivu Governor Marcellin Cishambo noted that although the Central African region, including the DRC with its good climate and abundant natural resources, had high agricultural potential, the sector was still riddled with many challenges.

“Agriculture is the most important sector in DRC. It provides 42% of our GDP and employs over half of our people. However, out of our 80 million hectares of potential agricultural l and, only approximately 10% is being used. The Government is therefore very keen to develop this sector to diversify and catalyze the economic development of the country,” he said.

The Director General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga, noted that the Central African region will become an important bread basket for the continent as the population of Africa continues to increase and l and becomes scarce.

“With this new center, together with our partners in the region, we are now better equipped to h andle the existing and the newly emerging challenges and opportunities in agriculture through research,” Dr Sanginga said. “Research alongside education is one of the most important investments in any country seeking socioeconomic transformation.”

He said that one of the areas where the institute was very keen on working was that of youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa by attracting them to agriculture. The institute had initiated the Youth Agripreneurs (agricultural entrepreneurs) program in Nigeria, DRC, and Tanzania. It had over 120 young members who had received training and were carrying out or initiating various agribusiness enterprises to earn a living.

Also speaking at the event, Dr Bernard Vanlauwe, IITA’s Director for Central Africa, said the region was home to one of the few remaining natural forests in Africa, the Congo forest. However, it is rapidly shrinking as the local communities fell the trees to exp and their agricultural l and to grow food and cash crops and to provide construction materials.

“We are working with farmers to increase their agriculture production on l and of the same size to reduce the destruction of forests. This is through introducing smart farming practices— the use of high-yielding improved varieties and better farming practices including soil fertility management. For many years our farmers have cropped the same fields, extracting nutrients from the soil without replenishing them because of the low use of organic and inorganic fertilizers.”

“In Eastern DRC, farmers using these smart farming practices in the cassava-legume systems have increased cassava yields by between 30 and 160%. In Western DRC, cassava yields doubled from 12 to 25 t/ha with moderate rates of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK) fertilizer, and reached over 40 t/ha with higher rates of fertilizer application,” he said.

Last year, IITA launched a similar facility in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for its Eastern Africa Hub and laid the foundation stone in Lusaka, Zambia, for its facility in Southern Africa.

The construction of science and training centers in the Hubs is in line with the institute’s new refreshed strategy and its vision of becoming a leading research partner, facilitating solutions to the problems of hunger and poverty in Africa.

For more details, please contact:

IITA: Andrea Gros, a.gros@cgiar.org

For photos and updates on the event: https://www.facebook.com/pages/IITA-Kalambo/1425577057709214?fref=ts

On Tuesday, 20 May 2014, the South Kivu provincial government held a special Council of Minister’s meeting at the research site of IITA in Kalambo, located 10 miles from the city of Bukavu in Eastern DR Congo.

The council members were warmly welcomed by IITA’s Director General Nteranya Sanginga and his team as they inquired about the progress of work on the IITA Science Building scheduled to be commissioned on 5 June 2014.

“This research center based in the DRC will improve food security in 14 African countries through research on soil, plants such as cassava, banana, and soybean as well as agroprocessing,” said Sanginga during the Council meeting.

The Ministers of the province led by Governor Marcellin Cishambo Ruhoya asked IITA staff many questions, with a special interest on the cassava value chain and the integration of women and youth in agriculture.

During a guided tour of the facilities of IITA Kalambo, the government delegation noted that the construction of this center was going on well and that the cassava processing units are almost ready. Hundreds of Congolese hired for this purpose are hard at work on various construction sites.

The science building and its laboratories are of international st andards and give researchers from the region the unique opportunity to work using state-of-the-art science facilities, constructed by IITA’s Facilities Management Services.

In a well attended press conference organized by IITA’s Communication Office in collaboration with 15 local media houses, the South Kivu Governor urged all Congolese to take ownership of the IITA initiative.

“The IITA research center provides a great opportunity to improve the quality of life among the poorest populations in our area,” said the Governor, adding “ and when I say ‘area’, I mean not only South Kivu but the DRC as a whole, as well as the Great Lakes countries. This is why the government is making every effort at all levels to ensure that everything goes well as we prepare to welcome our guests to the official inauguration on 5 June”.

On listening to the widely broadcasted radio programs on the event, the residents of South Kivu felt that the IITA Science Building had turned Kalambo into the provincial capital for the day.

“The establishment of this research center in my area gives hope because, for decades, our soil had not been productive.” said Deo Akilimali, a farmer in Kalambo. “I am confident that this agricultural center is part of the process of rebuilding the Kivu region.”

For more information, please contact: Andrea Gros, a.gros@cgiar.org

About IITA www.iita.org

Dr Silvestro Meseke — Dr Silvestro Meseka (left) with a partner examines maize harvest.

Efforts to improve the productivity and production of maize in DR Congo have received a boost as trials across the various agroecological zones in that country show promising results.

Dr Silvestro Meseka, IITA Maize Breeder who is back from the field, reports that the results are the product of a collaborative research project on the introduction of improved maize hybrids and varieties that was initiated by IITA in early February 2013 under the CGIAR Research Program MAIZE. First, two senior technicians were invited and trained after which hybrid and variety trials of different maturity groups for evaluation at Mvuazi (Bas Congo), Kipopo (Katanga), and Ng andajika (Kasai- Oriental) were deployed.

According to him, the main purpose of this research was to evaluate and identify high-yielding, adaptable maize hybrids and varieties for release to farmers that will contribute to food security as well as increase income of maize-growing smallholders in DR Congo.

Maize hybrids trials
More than 150 maize hybrids were evaluated at the Institut National pour l’Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques (INERA) testing sites at Kipopo (4° 58’S, 17° 50’E and 1300 m altitude), Ngadajika (6° 43’S and 23° 56’E, 779 m altitude), and Mvuazi (5° 27’S, 14° 54’E and 470 m altitude) during the main season (November 2013– February 2014). Maize genotypes tested at Kipopo were improved for adaptation to the mid-altitudes, while those tested at Mvuazi and Ng andajika were developed for adaptation to lowl and agroecologies. Most of the hybrids combined tolerance to multiple stresses including drought tolerance (DT) with high yield potential.

During the harvest (March 2014), six DT hybrids with superior performance were selected from more than 150 hybrids with the active participation of the maize breeder, Dr Kankolongo Mbuya, and the support staff of the national maize breeding program at Ng andajika Research Station (NRS). The criteria used for selection included ear aspect traits (good and uniform ear fill, uniformity of grain color and ear size, low number of ear rots, ear tip cover) and st andability. Similar results were also reported at Mvuazi Research Station.

Potential maize productivity
Dr Meseka said the potential of maize productivity is high in DR Congo, especially in Kasai-Oriental, Katanga, and Bas Congo Provinces. “The performance of some maize varieties seemed to be relatively stable even in fields where inorganic fertilizers were not being applied,” he added.

Because most improved varieties were lost during the civil unrest, most farmers (85%) use saved seeds from local varieties.

Currently, there are three improved high-yielding maize varieties, LONGE-5, MUDISHI-3, and KATOKI WA LUKASA being grown in DRC. Two of the varieties (LONGE-5, MUDISHI-3) were improved for enhanced levels of quality protein and can be referred to as quality protein maize (QPM), while KATOKI WA LUKASA is normal maize that combined high grain yield with resistance to downy mildew (DMR). KATOKI WA LUKASA and MUDISHI-3 were originally introduced from IITA as AK9331-DMR-ESR-Y and DMR-ESR-W-QPM, respectively. According to maize breeders in DRC, maize varieties such as SHABA and KASAI introduced from CIMMYT in the mid-1970s; and IKENE-1, KWILU, and SAMARU introduced from IITA around the same time were well adapted to several agroecologies (B andundu, Kinshasa, Bas Congo, and Kasai-Oriental provinces) in DRC. This is because most IITA maize genotypes were basically improved for resistance to maize streak virus (MSV) and downy mildew, two major foliar diseases of economic importance in the tropics, which are also common in most maize growing agroecologies in DR Congo.

Most farmers prefer white kernel maize for food and this helped in the rapid adoption of the two QPM varieties. However, there is growing interest in yellow maize (KATOKI WA LUKASA) with the advent of poultry and piggery industries in DR Congo.

For more information, please contact: Silvestro Meseka, Maize Breeder, s.meseka@cgiar.org or Godwin Atser, Western and Central Africa Regional Communications Officer, g.atser@cgiar.org

About IITA www.iita.org

The Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) today launched a new project to improve enset (commonly known as false banana because of its resemblance to the crop but with inedible fruits) by developing varieties with resistance to the deadly bacterial wilt disease.

Enset, Ensete ventricosum, is a staple food source for over 15 million people in Ethiopia, the only country in the world where it has been domesticated for over 10,000 years. It is cultivated mostly by smallholder farmers for food, animal feed, and fiber. Its production, similar to banana in east and central Africa, has been devastated by the deadly bacterial wilt disease which attacks all the varieties of the crop and is found in all the enset-growing areas of the country.

The destructive disease, first detected in Ethiopia in 1968, is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. Musacearum (Xcm) and leads to complete wilting of the crop. It is also currently threatening to wipe out banana in east and central Africa covering Ug anda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rw anda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Burundi where it causes annual losses of over US$500 million per annum. Scientists have failed to find any genes of resistance to the bacterial wilt disease in banana and enset and their wild relatives after over 30 years of research.

The new project led by IITA seeks to build national scientific capacity—both human and infrastructural—in Ethiopia to conduct biotechnology research on enset to develop varieties that are resistant to the bacterial wilt. It will also help policy makers put in place the necessary policies needed to carry out such research. The four-year project has received US$2.59 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

While officially launching the project the Deputy Director of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) Dr Adugna Wakjira said enset was an important indigenous crop in the country enjoyed by nearly all Ethiopians as there were many and diverse food products made from it. He further noted it was drought tolerant and was one of the promising crops to support smallholder farmers cope with climate change. However, its production was under threat from the banana bacterial wilt.

“Currently all control measures are sanitary. This project is therefore very timely and relevant to the country as we have to use modern tools in addition to our traditional conventional breeding to solve this problem,” he said. Scientists from IITA and the National Research Organization (NARO), Ug anda, have successfully transferred genes from sweet pepper resistant to the disease to some popular banana varieties in the country and they have shown very strong resistance to the disease in the lab, in screenhouses, and in confined field trials. The project will work to transfer this technology to enset.

“We have made great strides in banana transformation to develop varieties resistant to the disease using genes from sweet pepper as there are no known sources of resistance in both banana and enset. We are keen to extend these technologies to enset at the request of the national scientists,” says Leena Tripathi, IITA Plant Biotechnologist who will lead the project.

The project was initiated following a report on “Assessment of Biotechnology and Biosafety Capacity in Ethiopia” conducted by a team from the Africa Union/New Partnership for Africa Development (AU/NEPAD); the African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE), Burkina Faso; Michigan State University (MSU), USA; and the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), Ethiopia. After the assessment, ATA requested the Gates Foundation to support a collaborative initiative between EIAR and IITA to build the capacity of national scientists and research facilities to conduct transgenic research and to support policy makers to effectively create an improved policy environment to facilitate the research in the country.

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For more information, please contact:

Catherine Njuguna, East and Central Africa Regional Communications Officer, c.njuguna@cgiar.org

Andrea Gros, Head of the Communication Office, a.gros@cgiar.org

About IITA www.iita.org

A pan-African project aimed at improving legume technologies to counter the debilitating impact of low-nitrogen soils on agricultural production is generating higher yields and new income streams for smallholder farmers.

Since it began in 2009, N2Africa set out to increase the adoption of improved nitrogen fixing legumes – specifically soybean, cowpea, groundnut and common bean – and support the creation of new markets for the resulting crops so that farmers continue to improve the quality of their soil, as well as improve household income and nutrition.

To date, the project has reached more than 250,000 smallholder farmers across eight countries with better genotypes of legumes and rhizobia inoculants. These, in addition to phosphorus fertiliser and improved crop management practices, more than doubled legume yields in many cases. They can also improve performance of successive crops by as much as 50 per cent as a result of improved soil nitrogen levels. Net household income rose by an estimated average of $355 per year.

In Kenya, N2Africa has helped more than 10,000 farmers access niche soybean markets, which have the potential to grow significantly. The dem and from the processing industry alone leads to the import of over 8 million tons of soybeans annually from Ug anda, Rw anda, DRC and other countries.

N2Africa is a collaborative project led by Wageningen University with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffet Foundation. The first phase of N2Africa ends this year and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently approved phase two of the project.

The project started at the end of 2009 in Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rw anda and Zimbabwe. Liberia and Sierra Leone were added two years later, with funding from the Howard G. Buffet Foundation. This year activities started in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Ug anda.

Increasing crop yields and soil health
Many soils in Africa are severely depleted of nitrogen, making it difficult for smallholder farmers to produce the yields needed to feed growing populations.

Yet, according to Bernard Vanlauwe, R4D Director of IITA, “smallholder farmers often cannot access or afford the inputs needed to put nitrogen back into the ground. Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) can help them do this – and earn them additional income at the same time.”

Nitrogen fixation is the process by which certain plants, including legumes, take nitrogen gas from the atmosphere, incorporate it into their tissue, and subsequently into the ground, improving soil health and the overall productivity of the farming system.

In addition, N2Africa demonstrated that farmers could significantly increase their legume yields by combining improved varieties with rhizobium inoculants, phosphorus fertiliser and accompanying agronomic management practices.

Rhizobium bacteria are found in soil, and are responsible for fixing nitrogen but different legumes need specific rhizobium strains to fix well. By adding the correct inoculum to legume seed before planting, farmers can further increase their yields.

Professor Ken Giller, N2Africa Director, said: “There have been very few projects that have been able to test technologies at the scale that we’ve been able to. We have measurements and observations on thous ands of farmers’ fields across Africa. With these we can underst and what the reasons are for better or poor crop performance, and what particular technology fits each type of farmer. Legumes are very flexible crops, and suitable for both the wealthier or poorest farmers.”

“We’ve got proof of massive improvements in yield at field level, due to the right combination of better genotypes of legumes and rhizobia, adapted fertiliser and improved crop management.”

Developing markets
Lack of access to markets means many smallholder farmers in Africa struggle every season to sell their goods. N2Africa technologies are helping Kenyan farmers exploit gaps in the local and national soybean markets.

In western Kenya, N2Africa linked soybean farmers with lucrative commercial and non-profit markets:

Food manufacturer, Promasidor, set up 16 soybean grain collection points to buy Kenyan soybeans for Sossi, a soybean product available in Kenyan supermarkets. In 2012, Promasidor bought 160 tons of soybean from Kenyan farmers.
N2Africa farmers supply 220 tons of soybean each year to three soybean processing factories set up by UNIDO and the Government of Japan to provide soy products for school feeding programmes and emergency relief.
On a local scale, N2Africa has supported farmers to set up their own soybean processing plants, including mincer, soaking basin, filters, press plates and pasteurizing pans. Women use them in late afternoons to mince soybeans for their evening meals.

Jeroen Huising, CIAT Scientist and N2Africa programme coordinator, said: “In contrast to staple crops, like maize and rice, legumes fetch a higher price. But we need to support farmers to have access to these markets. Once we do that, the technology has the potential to be self-sustaining – enabling farmers to increase the nitrogen in their soils, attain higher yields and earn more money through crop sales.”

Ends

For more information visit www.n2africa.org/ or visit www.n2africa.tv/ to watch N2Africa TV.

About CIAT www.ciat.cgiar.org/
Through research aimed at making agriculture more eco-efficient, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) contributes importantly to major global initiatives aimed at reducing rural poverty, strengthening food security, improving human nutrition and health, and achieving sustainable management of natural resources across the developing world. These initiatives are carried out by the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers of the CGIAR (formerly known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) and its numerous partner organizations, with support from the multi-donor CGIAR Fund.
Press contact: Stephanie Malyon, CIAT. T: 00 254 (0)727 389 004; s.malyon@cgiar.org

About Wageningen www.wageningenur.nl/en.htm
Wageningen University is part of the international expertise organisation Wageningen UR (University & Research centre). Our mission is ‘To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life’. Within Wageningen UR, nine research institutes – both specialised and applied – have joined forces with Wageningen University to help answer the most important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With approximately 40 locations (in the Netherl ands, Brazil and China), 6500 members of staff and 10,000 students, Wageningen UR is one of the leading organisations in its domain worldwide. The integral approach to problems and the cooperation between the exact sciences and the technological and social disciplines are at the heart of the Wageningen Approach. Contact: Erik Toussaint erik.toussaint@wur.nl

About IITA www.iita.org
IITA is one of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Their award-winning research for development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate sustainable wealth from agriculture. The non-profit organization was founded in 1967, is governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported by several countries. IITA is a member of CGIAR – a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. Project contact: Bernard Vanlauwe, R4D Director, IITA, b.vanlauwe@cgiar.org

Efforts to transform agriculture in Africa have received a boost as more than 60 researchers and partners met under the Support for Agricultural Research and Development of Strategic Crops (SARD-SC)’s event “Partners, Possibilities and Prospects” on 15 July 2013 at the 6th African Agricultural Science Week in Accra. The SARD-SC project will raise the productivity of maize, cassava, wheat, and rice by 20% in twenty selected countries in Africa.

The plan is to reduce food importation from other continents and offer farmers better access to markets, improve livelihoods, and tackle poverty through enhanced capacities of beneficiaries to sustainable development in the region.

About a million farmers will directly benefit from the project through its innovations basket, while another million and half will be reached by project spin off effects. “Narrowing the yield gap is key for African farmers, and it will help them to compete globally and to feed themselves,” says Project Coordinator of SARD-SC Chrysantus Akem from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Funded by the African Development Bank with US$ 63.24 million, SARD-SC also aims to create knowledge on the tested innovations with farmers in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Ug anda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

IITA is one of the world’s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Its award-winning research for development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana/plantain, yam, cassava, and maize. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. The SARD-SC project is being co-implemented by three Africa-based centers under CGIAR and executed by IITA.

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For more information, please contact: Godwin Atser, g.atser@cgiar.org; Chrysantus Akem, c.akem@iita.org or Andrea Gros,a.gros@cgiar.org

countries: Congo

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