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To improve their yields and incomes, African cassava farmers need regular and reliable access to high quality planting materials of the newest and best varieties.  Access to such cassava stems, however, is often a problem.  Agrodealers don’t sell them, and free distributions by NGOs and government programs are sporadic and unreliable.

Lagos, Nigeria 16 June, 2020 – The International Institute of Topical Agriculture (IITA), through its Youth in Agribusiness office, is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation in Nigeria to implement the Young Africa Works strategy.

The World Food Prize Foundation, on 11 June, announced leading soil scientist and IITA alumnus Dr Rattan Lal, as the 50th World Food Prize Laureate. The Foundation’s Selection Committee chose Dr Lal

The Permanent Secretary (PS) at the Tanzania Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Ms Dorothy Mwaluko, has identified the scaling up of innovative technologies from research to farmers as a major challenge to the growth of the agriculture sector in the country and therefore a priority area of collaboration with ONE CGIAR.

In 2018, over 200 million people in Africa were undernourished due to food shortages. The advent of coronavirus has added another dimension to this issue. An examination of these problems led to the World Bank and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convening a virtual conference to put together a response plan to address these issues.

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, governments all over the world have instituted specific measures such as physical distancing and staying at home. Unfortunately, for farmers, time is of the essence since the rainy season is here and it will soon end, – whether we are facing a pandemic or not.

Cassava is the second most-consumed staple food after maize in sub-Saharan Africa, feeding more than 300 million people. Nigeria is the world’s biggest producer of cassava at 59 million tons per year.

To manage potential funding shortfalls due to the global COVID-19 crisis, IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga has outlined options through which the Institute can strengthen ongoing research and ensure sustainable planning as well as strategic resource mobilization.

A CGIAR-IITA scientist has developed a more cost and time effective molecular diagnostic tool that can accurately identify different subgroups of cassava whiteflies, Bemisia tabaci.