People affected by HIV/AIDS in southern Africa will benefit from a health and livelihoods initiative based on agriculture launched by IITA. MIRACLE aims at improving the health and nutrition status, food security, and incomes of people affected by HIV/AIDS in the subregion.

IITA has a new Director General: Dr Nteranya E. Sanginga. Dr Sanginga has more than 21 years of experience in agricultural research and development, particularly in the fields of applied microbial ecology, plant nutrition, and integrated natural resources management in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Social science research is one of the major disciplinary areas supporting innovation processes at IITA for achieving a sustainable reduction in food security and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

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.

Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akin Adesina, talks about his strategy for a Green Revolution in Nigeria.

Climate change and plant health
Healthy banana TC industry
Safe exchange of germplasm
Germ-free germplasm
In Kanti Rawal’s footsteps
Restoring the IITA forest
Investing in aflasafe™
Sustainable production and distribution of clean banana

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.

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.

A new book, titled Protection de la Nature en Afrique de l’Ouest: Une Liste Rouge pour le Bénin (Nature Conservation in West Africa: Red List for Benin) is now available at IITA.

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 …