A partner explains a strategic and innovative model for conserving existing genetic diversity in yam in the African yam belt through farmer exchanges and use.
Fourteen years after it was first introduced, the biopesticide Green Muscle®, which uses the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae to kill pests, is still effectively targeting invasive locusts that threaten African farmlands.
Cassava green mite first came to Africa in the 1970s from South America, wreaking havoc on cassava farms and reducing yields by up to 80%. Read how a natural enemy helped tackle the menace.
The water hyacinth and other aquatic weeds, exotic species introduced to Africa, became pests when they started clogging waterways and water bodies. Fortunately, natural enemies or biocontrol agents were found by IITA to attack these pests.
A biopesticide from a fungus, Beauveria bassiana, developed by IITA is helping farmers in Benin go back to cabbage production after the diamondback moth ravaged their farms.
Information on the banana genome and molecular tools to map traits are lacking. IITA is mapping and characterizing new molecular markers for use in banana breeding and genetics.
Manuele Tamò suggests that based on previous studies, the negative unintended effects of transformed crops on natural enemies and biodiversity are far less than those caused by repeated applications of synthetic pesticides.
Read about the award-winning approach that IITA extension specialists have adopted to strengthen knowledge of cocoa farmers on integrated crop and pest management techniques and practices.
IITA researchers have shown that investment in agricultural research is paying off: the generation and diffusion of modern maize varieties in the last three decades have lifted more than 1 million people in sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty in the last 10 years.
A series of impact studies in Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo provides evidence that IITA’s R4D work does have an impact on small-scale farmers.
Member countries of ECOWAS will need to significantly increase their investment in agricultural research and development to achieve the MDG aim of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty by 2015.
On 31 October 2011, Dr Hartmann completed his tenure as the sixth Director General of IITA. In this interview, Hartmann shares his experience on his 10-year stay at IITA.