In the heart of Nigeria’s Olokemeji Forest Reserve, where verdant greenery now rises to reclaim degraded land, lies a story as transformative as the trees themselves. Samuel Peters Taiwo, a former casual worker at the IITA Forest Center, is…
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evans samuel
Eastern Africa
From healthier bananas to safer food: Two IITA scientists among the world’s Top Agri-food Pioneers
For millions of people across Africa, a healthy bunch of bananas on the farm or a bag of aflatoxin-free maize at the market may seem like ordinary sights. Yet behind these everyday realities are decades of scientific research, innovation,…
Banana is an important crop serving millions of households as a staple food and source of income in East Africa. It drives food security, nutrition, and rural livelihoods across the region, with its value deeply integrated in smallholder farming systems and…
In West Africa, yam production is far more than an agricultural activity. It is a deeply embedded system that sustains millions of livelihoods, shapes rural economies, and reinforces cultural identity. Across the region, yams occupy a central place not…
In Nigeria, long before the dominance of maize and rice, farmers cultivated a range of indigenous crops uniquely adapted to local ecologies and nutritional needs. Among these are fonio–locally known as acha in some parts of Nigeria and the…
Western Africa
IITA Forest Center inspires future sustainability leaders through experiential learning
For students studying sustainability, few learning experiences are as impactful as witnessing environmental conservation in practice. This became a reality for Master’s students from the Department of Sustainability Studies, Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV), University of Ibadan, who on…
The Program for Seed System Innovations for Vegetatively Propagated Crops in Africa (PROSSIVA) has trained Nigeria’s first cohort of banana and plantain seed entrepreneurs, marking an important milestone in efforts to strengthen the country’s emerging formal seed system. The…
For many years, selecting the right seed varieties for farmers in Rwanda was a slow and highly technical process. Before a seed recommendation could reach farmers, it often took up to two years of station-based trials and on-farm evaluations.…