The Sahel Africa hub is the newest of IITA’s five hubs. It allows IITA to be closer (with a physical presence) to Sahelian countries because the Sahel region is one of the most challenging in the world. At the same time, it presents potential that needs to be developed. The Hub currently covers Burkina Faso, Chad, Gambia, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Sudan , with Bamako, Mali, serving as the hub site.
The IITA Management set up the Sahel Africa hub to focus on improving resilience to climate change following an analysis of the regional situation in consultation with local partners. The Sahel Africa hub is working to showcase and scale IITA and other CGIAR-relevant technologies for the Sahel region. The Sahel hub also provides an opportunity to further CGIAR research on Sahelian crops like cowpea and drought and heat tolerance of cereals and even RTB crops such as Cassava, as well as IPM and ISFM work. Presently, several One CGIAR initiatives have Sahelian countries as their focus sites.
Currently, the IITA Sahel hub is leading two projects: CSAT Niger and Mali and BSF, funded by the Norwegian government. The CSAT projects are scaling climate-smart technologies in Niger and Mali and researching to develop additional regional options in breeding, IPM, Aflatoxin mitigation, and crop modeling. The BSF (Black Soldier Fly) project focuses on commercializing alternative sources of protein (from BSF) for animal feed (poultry and fish) and organic fertilizers for peri-urban agriculture based on bio-circular economy principles. Other projects such as AGG (Accelerating Genetic Gains for maize) are also working in the region.
Contacts
Abdoulaye, Tahirou
Director, Sahel Africa Hub
t.abdoulaye@cgiar.org
Odiambo, Eveline
Head, Finance and Administration
Western Africa Hub
e.odiambo@cgiar.org
PMB 5320, Oyo Road, Ibadan 200001, Oyo State, Nigeria
IITA Sahel Hub
