How can the banana industry help propel Africa’s development? The banana strategy points out what is in store for African banana.

IITA has adopted a multipronged strategy to tackle Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), a serious threat to cassava production, to reduce its effects on cassava in epidemic areas, and prevent its further spread.

Irmgard Hoeschle-Zeledon*, i.zeledon@cgiar.org or sp-ipm@cgiar.org
*Coordinator of the CGIAR Systemwide Program on Integrated Pest Management (SP-IPM) convened by IITA
Diverse crop production system. Photo by IITA.
The discussion on the impact of climate change (CC) on agriculture has often focused on how changes in temperature, rainfall, and CO2 concentrations will affect the suitability of temperate regions for crop production and how crops will react in terms of yields. The effects of climate change on biotic factors in the tropics, such as weeds, pests, and pathogens (hereafter referred to as pests), have not received …

Climate change (CC) is a long-term change in the statistical distribution of global weather patterns over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. Several factors, known as climate forcers, usually natural events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, solar radiation, and ocean currents shape climate change.
Life on earth is a dynamic process and intimately connected to the biotic forms in cohabitation, farmin systems, and the environment. A shift in one parameter alters the delicate balance in an interconnected world. Source: L. Kumar, IITA.
However, the climate forcer …

Here you will find some popular recipes for cooking cowpeas.

1. Cowpeas are thought to get their name from when they were a key livestock feed in the USA.
2. The cowpea is 25% protein.
3. Fifty two percent of the cowpeas produced in Africa are used for food, 13% are used for animal feed, 10% are used for their seeds, 9% goes to other uses, and 16% are wasted.
4. In the Southern United States eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is considered good luck because they symbolize money.
5. In Yoruba cowpeas are called ewa or ere. …

B.B. Singh, the former cowpea breeder at IITA (1979 to 2006), discusses the highlights of research in cowpea improvement over the last four decades and suggests future directions to expand its cultivation as a niche crop.

As the world celebrates the International Year of Biodiversity, R4D Review interviews local conservationists to get their take on how to stem the loss of biodiversity.

What makes yam so important to the people of West Africa and some countries in the Pacific? Read about the legend of how yam and cocoyam became important crops to the Ibo peopple of Nigeria, and how the festival is celebrated.

Butterfly expert Robert Warren explains why it is important to conduct a survey of butterflies in the IITA forest, one of the last remaining patches of protected areas in Nigeria.