IITA 2016 Annual Report 116 117 IITA 2016 Annual Report Transforming African agriculture through research 1 2 Contents From the Director General 4 From the Board Chair 5 Transforming African agriculture through research 6 Improving crops 8 Sowing the seeds of success in West Africa 9 Improving the “golden pod” in southern Africa 13 Transforming lives through better seeds in Mozambique 17 Blazing the trail for next generation cocoa R4D in West and Central Africa 20 Giving hope to cassava farmers in Zambia 23 Bringing improved banana hybrids a step closer to farmers’ fields 27 Closing the maize yield gap in Africa: The TAMASA-Nigeria experience 30 Making crops healthy 36 Hot on the heels of deadly aflatoxins in southern Africa 37 The nose knows: Managing whiteflies by the way they sense crop scents 42 Managing natural resources 44 A patch of protection: Helping to safeguard threatened biodiversity in Bénin 45 A concerted effort against weeds in cassava 49 Soil Health Consortiums: Making soil fertility management more relevant to farmers 53 Mix and match: Choosing best crop combinations and densities for optimum banana production in the Great Lakes Region 55 Better now with better know-how 58 Ensuring impact and delivery 62 Putting the private sector in the driver’s seat to push agricultural innovations 63 Realizing a hunger-free Nigeria 66 Accuracy is the key: Lessons from the CMS project in Nigeria 70 A coming of age for African youth in agriculture 73 Transforming Nigeria’s agricultural landscape 78 When exposure to the SUN is good 82 When success PICS up 86 Mechanizing for progress 88 Making better soybean seeds more accessible to farmers in Malawi: The MISST experience 92 Improving gender equity and nutrition in the DRC 96 Training and seminars 98 Publications 102 Our Finances and Supporters 108 Board of Trustees 112 Headquarters and Hubs 114 From the Director General In 2017, we are celebrating our Golden Jubilee. IITA will be only one of four We also advanced on many of our research fronts across the continent. CGIAR centers to reach that milestone, and the first Africa-based center to We documented success stories from our R4D projects particularly on do so. I am very excited and extremely proud to be at the helm when IITA crop breeding, seed systems development, biodiversity conservation, reaches that landmark. pest and disease management, nutrition and health, natural resources management, seed and postharvest storage, ICT in agriculture, technology Going towards our 50th anniversary—and together with our partners, upscaling, gender equity, and agricultural mechanization. supporters, and donors—we continue to toil hard to achieve impact from our research-for-development (R4D) work to help our smallholder farmers On the P4D front, we have consolidated our strengths in partnership, create a better life for themselves and their families. To this end, 2016 has technology delivery, multi-stakeholder platforms, mega project been another exciting and productive year for us. management, mechanization, and commercializing technologies through our Business Incubation Platform to ensure that IITA’s research outputs We concluded an institutional reorganization and realignment by creating reach small farmers and businesses, as in the case of Aflasafe, NoduMax, the Partnerships for Delivery (P4D) Directorate to replace the Partnerships and GoSeeds. Aflasafe is now being marketed in three countries in Africa, and Capacity Development Directorate to enable us to better achieve our making food supplies safer for Africans; NoduMax is ensuring higher yields goals of increasing the productivity and wealth of African farm families and in soybean for enhanced nutrition; and breeder and foundation seeds are improving their health. We also streamlined and decentralized many of our more readily available for seed companies when they need them. processes and procedures to make our Hubs more autonomous, and make the delivery of our R4D and P4D efforts across the continent more efficient. We continued to build Africa’s next generation of agricultural researchers, coaching and producing several MSc and PhD graduates. We also We developed a new institutional tagline “Transforming African Agriculture”, organized and facilitated training courses to build the capacities and which more aptly reflects our aspirations, mission, and vision as stipulated upgrade the skills of our own staff, to keep pace with the advances in in our Refreshed Strategy 2020 and clearly describes our work and how we related technologies and the dynamic nature of agricultural research. respond to the ever-changing landscape of agriculture in Africa. We reached out and explored new partnerships, while nurturing existing In 2016, IITA was instrumental in the development of the “Zero Hunger in ones. Partnerships have been, and will always be, one of the cornerstones Nigeria” Strategy—a roadmap that outlines what the country needs to do to of our operations. We achieve our goals because of the backing of our achieve a hunger-free status by 2030, in line with one of the United Nations donors and supporters. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We continued to build on the success of our Youth Agripreneurs program, which has its roots in Nigeria As we move towards our 50th anniversary, we look forward to better Dr Nteranya Sanginga Director General but has now spread to many other African countries and is supported by and brighter things ahead. I hope you enjoy going through this various international donors, national programs, and governments. Annual Report. 4 From the Board Chair IITA sees a bright future for Africa, a continent that can become a at its main headquarters in Ibadan, which is being extended to other world leader in agriculture and sustainability. The Institute’s 2012–2020 IITA locations. Three products are now being produced and distributed Strategic Plan established an ambitious goal of lifting 11 million people from this facility: Aflasafe, which greatly reduces poisonous aflatoxin in out of poverty and revitalizing 7.5 million hectares of degraded land by cereals and legumes; NoduMax for nodulating soybeans; and GoSeed, 2020. The Board of Trustees is committed to providing leadership and a facility to produce breeder and foundation seed of new IITA cultivars. oversight to the Institute in the achievement of this goal. Aflasafe is now being used in several countries to improve food safety and a production facility has been constructed in Kenya, with plans for IITA has undergone a period of unprecedented growth over the last facilities in other countries. BIP is also involved in capacity development, five years. Its budget has tripled since 2011, resulting in a doubling of including the Youth Agripreneur program pioneered by IITA, which has the number of internationally recruited scientists. State-of-the-art now been extended to many African countries under the ENABLE Youth science buildings have been constructed in the eastern, southern, and Program, funded by the African Development Bank under IITA’s technical central African hubs in Tanzania, Zambia, and DR Congo, as well as in assistance. The goal is to get African youth more involved in agriculture, Mozambique. The increased science capacity, improved infrastructure, driving innovation in the sector, and addressing youth unemployment. and updated scientific equipment have greatly increased IITA’s capacity to conduct research to deliver on its mission and strategic plan. A highlight of 2016 was DG Sanginga’s acceptance of the Board’s offer of a second five-year term as head of IITA. Sanginga’s vision and leadership IITA has been the lead center on the CGIAR Research Program (CRP) on have been key to the recent growth in the research capacity of IITA and Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics, which has been the focal point we are very pleased that he will continue to lead the Institute’s growth as for the Institute’s R4D programs. This CRP ended in December, 2016, and the leading agricultural research partner in Africa. will not be a stand-alone program in the second round of CRPs, starting in 2017. However, several projects in the CRP have been incorporated I am pleased serve as chair of the Board of this well managed Institute in the new Agri-Food Systems CRPs. In the new CRP portfolio, IITA is a and would like to thank my colleagues on the Board for their dedication key partner in five CRPs—Roots, Tubers and Bananas, MAIZE, Climate to IITA’s success. The Board expresses its appreciation to DG Sanginga and Change, Agriculture for Nutrition and Health, and Policies, Institutions his senior management team for the significant accomplishments over and Markets, as well as three Platforms. IITA’s research programs are well the past five years and for their vision for the future. We congratulate the aligned with the CRPs to achieve the CGIAR’s system-level outcomes. scientists and support staff for the excellent research being conducted. Finally, we express our appreciation to our funders who recognize the To support the delivery and impact of technologies developed from its importance of the work being done and have confidence in the Institute’s research programs, IITA established a Business Incubation Platform (BIP) ability to do it. Dr Bruce Coulman Chair, Board of Trustees 5 Transforming African agriculture through research Through its research-for-development efforts and strategic initiatives, IITA continues to focus on four big-picture outcomes that are aligned with the new sustainable development agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals: increase in food security, reduction in rural poverty, reduction of undernutrition, and more sustainable management of natural resources. To ensure success in meeting these goals, IITA partners with various science and development stakeholders that include advanced research institutions, Research is national agricultural research and extension systems, governments and undertaken policymakers, civil society, the private sector, development partners, to address farmers and farmer’s organizations, investors, and media.