News

IITA Chief Commends Cassava Weed Management Project for research and delivery

Dr. Kenton Dashiell has acknowledged the efficient mechanism of the IITA-managed Cassava Weed Management Project (IITA-CWMP) in the core areas of partnership creation, research, and dissemination of innovations to farmers.

The IITA Chief, Dr. Dashiell in a 30-minute presentation to more than 300 researchers including members of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), which focused on IITA’s Partnership for Delivery strategy, stressed IITA’s renewed commitment to impact on farm levels and how the Institute is responding to Africa’s agricultural realities in the context of food security and wealth creation.

He, also noted that IITA’s scaling out approaches were based on excellent research at IITA, highlighting the role of partners as a critical component to the research and delivery continuum.

Other projects which featured in the presentation were the Ag Results project on the control of aflatoxins, N2Africa, the IITA Business Incubation Platform, and the IITA Youth Agri-Business program.

The IITA Cassava Weed Management Project, which began in 2014, has five components—three focusing on research and two on delivery and effective project management.

According to Dr. Alfred Dixon, Project Leader, Cassava Weed Management Project, “all these components are integrated in a research-for-development model”.

Three and a half years down the line, the project has developed an integrated weed control package that is now being disseminated to farmers at scale using diverse platforms such as traditional and social media, on-farm demonstration, extension agents, and spray service providers.

The integrated weed management technology is today showing farmers the best approaches to control weeds in cassava farming systems, making farming cassava less burdensome, and increasing yields.

The project intends to reach at least 125,000 farmers in its lifecycle of 5 years.

Dr Dashiell who oversees a portfolio of projects said the vision of the Partnerships for Delivery Directorate was to ensure that the excellent research being generated is delivered at scale, support policy dialogues, and promote youth and private sector entrepreneurship.

admin

Recent Posts

Ford Trims Workforce: 4,000 Jobs to Go in Europe

US car giant Ford on Wednesday announced 4,000 more job cuts in Europe, mostly in…

2 days ago

Tinubu Dissolves UNIZIK Council, Sacks VC, Registrar, Otukpo Pro-Chancellor

  President Bola Tinubu has approved the dissolution of the Governing Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe…

2 days ago

Ekiti Workers to Earn N70,000 Minimum Wage as Govt Signs MoU with Unions

  The Ekiti State Government has reached an agreement with labour leaders in the state,…

2 days ago

N610bn Constituency Projects Under ICPC Scrutiny in 21 States, FCT

  The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has initiated the seventh…

2 days ago

Iraq Undertakes Historic Census After 40-Year Gap

Iraq is holding its first nationwide census in nearly four decades this week, a long-awaited…

2 days ago

Relief as Rep ‘Lafi’ Empowers 300 Constituents Through Skill Acquisition Programme

  Over 300 constituents of Akinyele/Lagelu Federal Constituency in Oyo State benefitted from a skill…

3 days ago