Maize breeding at IITA was initiated around 1970. The program has resulted in the development of a large number of inbred lines, open-pollinated varieties, and hybrids with resistance to Striga, stem borers, and aflatoxin contamination, with tolerance for drought, efficient nitrogen use, and enhanced contents of lysine, tryptophan, and pro-vitamin A.

IITA and its partners have been working on improving legume production systems for several decades. This article provides an overview of these efforts on cowpea and soybean improvement.

Banana breeding is challenging, slow, and expensive. To support the breeding program, genetics studies are being conducted, and IITA is investing in biotechnology approaches to banana improvement.

In the last 45 years, IITA has played a pivotal role in the genetic improvement of cassava for resource-poor farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 400 high-yielding and disease- and pest-resistant varieties developed.

Since its inception, IITA R4D efforts have focused on developing new varieties of yam with desired agronomic and quality traits and to improve yam-based cropping systems. Research on biotechnology of yam includes tissue culture, genetic transformation, and development and use of molecular markers.

This article talks about progress in using genomics for transforming yam breeding. Yam is an economically important staple food for more than 300 million people in West Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Caribbean.

Over the last 10 years, IITA and various stakeholders in the cocoa belt have been developing cocoa innovations and sharing knowledge through the Sustainable Tree Crops Program (STCP). The rapid expansion of intensified cocoa production systems through the High Tech Program of the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board has resulted in productivity gains that appear to rival those of wheat during the Indian Green Revolution.

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 study shows that agricultural research and development, improved weather, and policy reforms were the principal drivers of agricultural productivity in Africa after the mid-1980s.

IITA Molecular Biologist Morag Ferguson emphasizes that farmers’ seed systems are robust and resilient, and along with existing social networks, could effectively help restore diversity in disaster-affected communities.