IITA undertakes research for development with and for the people, engaging a whole range of partners. Social science provides a rich context that ensures the relevance of agricultural research in discovering, adapting, adopting, and diffusing new technologies and institutional innovations.

Plant health is an important concern for all. IITA believes that ensuring plant health is pivotal to improve agricultural productivity and food security, and reduce poverty. It is also a key element in IITA’s strategy of intensifying sustainable agriculture. Containing biological threats, among other things, to food security is the real national defense, says IITA DG Hartmann.

For too long, a versatile crop that provides huge benefits for health and wealth stayed on the sidelines. Interest in this grain legume, however, has greatly increased; it is now gaining prominence in the fight against hunger and poverty. Cowpea is one crop that could influence the nutritional status in sub-Saharan Africa. IITA and partners should work together to advance this crop and to save Africa.

The debate continues: food or biodiversity conservation? Scientist Emeritus Peter Neuenschwander stresses that natural resources management offers the intellectual platform to integrate the different disciplines in a sustainable manner. He suggests ways in which the CGIAR and IITA can help meet the twin goals of conserving biodiversity while feeding the human population.

Three decades of R4D at IITA have shown the effectiveness and sustainability of biological control combined with other approaches for managing insect pests. These biocontrol practices and technologies provide subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa with solutions that are sometimes their only safety net.

IITA uses all available scientific tools and approaches in its attempt to address hunger and poverty, but the decision to reject or approve and adopt any GM products is the domain and responsibility of the respective national governments.” —Hartmann, IITA Director General

Many promising solutions remain on shelves because participation in their development and access to such knowledge have been limited. We launch this 6-monthly R4D Review in print and interactive online versions based upon open source principles…

Grown by smallholder farmers, bananas and plantains are major food staples and two of the leading cash crops, both in the East African Great Lakes zone and the West African humid lowlands. Diverse banana cultivars are grown for a number of uses, including brewing (juice bananas), cooking and roasting, as well as sweet dessert bananas.