IITA Bulletin 2331

CGIAR

No. 2331

The IITA

20 –24 June 2016

Tracking impact: IITA technologies lift over 4 million people in Africa out of poverty

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vidence from research have shown that IITA had—by 2015—contributed to lifting over 4,306,621 people in sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty through the adoption of improved agricultural technologies developed by the Institute and its partners.

This is the evidence from four completed case studies that were presented by Dr Victor Manyong, IITA Director for Eastern Africa hub during a seminar titled ‘Tracking Poverty Reduction Associated with IITA Technologies’ at the hub offices in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 26 May. Manyong said poverty reduction was one Victor Manyong highlights IITA’s pivotal role in of IITA’s key performance indicators and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. the studies are part of efforts to track and five years was higher among those who had document the Institute’s progress towards adopted the technologies compared to the achieving its vision of lifting 11.6 million of non-adopters. population out from poverty by 2020 as Meanwhile, the adoption of drought tolerant spelt out in its refreshed strategy. maize introduced in Nigeria 10 years ago Two studies conducted this year in had removed from poverty 2,668,000 people Nigeria on the impact of adoption according to the study ‘Impact of adoption of improved cowpea varieties and of DTMV on poverty reduction in Nigeria.’ drought tolerant maize varieties (DTMV) found that the two technologies had The other studies conducted in 2015 contributed to getting an estimated three included a baseline study of the Support to and a half million people out of poverty in Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC) Africa’s most populous country. and an impact study of the Consortium for The study ‘Impact of adoption of cowpea Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in germplasm on poverty reduction in Kano Central Africa (CIALCA) which collectively State, Nigeria’ used DNA tests to link the showed further that over 750,000 people improved cowpea varieties being cultivated were lifted out of poverty in association with by farmers to the IITA collection at its IITA technologies. genebank in Ibadan, Nigeria. By 2012, 58% of cowpea farmlands was cultivated to The SARD-SC baseline looked at the of improved cassava improved varieties with yield gains of 254% adoption varieties introduced by IITA and over local varieties. partners in Zambia, DR Congo, Tanzania, The study found that 884,241 people had and Sierra Leone. It established that 194,469 been lifted out of poverty cumulatively farmers were lifted out of poverty from between 1980 and 2015. It also established growing the new high-yielding varieties. that the nutritional status of children below Further disaggregation of the results by

gender showed that more female-headed households had moved out of poverty than male-headed households.

The CIALCA initiative contributed to lifting 559,810 people in Burundi, eastern DR Congo and Rwanda out of poverty. CIALCA had developed and disseminated a complex set of technologies including improved crop varieties combined with crop management practices, integrated pest management practices and marketing strategies. Productivity levels were found to be higher among the adopters compared to non-adopters.

Addressing adoption challenges Manyong said while these studies had shown that the adoption of technologies generated by IITA and partners had contributed significantly to poverty reduction the impact would have been higher if more people had adopted the technologies.

“For example, from the sample surveyed in DTMV-target areas of Nigeria, about 53% of households knew about the technology but only 44% had adopted. The question therefore is why did some of those who knew about the technology not adopt it?”

Manyong asked. “Some of the reasons behind this could be low accessibility and availability of the seeds—these are adoption constraints that we need to address for more impact.”

The lessons from this study will be used to refine tools to track the Institute’s progress in reducing poverty in future planned impact studies on other technologies that IITA has disseminated. These include improved varieties of soybean, yam, banana and plantain varieties, banana/coffee intercropping and Striga control, among others.

Got a story to share? Please email it with photos and captions every Wednesday to Katherine Lopez (k.lopez@cgiar.org), Jeffrey T. Oliver (j.oliver@cgiar.org), Catherine Njuguna (c.njuguna@cgiar.org), or Adaobi Umeokoro (a.umeokoro@cgiar.org).

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IITA scientist presents to IARSAF members

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here is no substitute for self-motivation.

No one can put success in your pocket,” IITA Virologist Lava Kumar said at the IARSAF journal club, held 10 June, at IITA, Ibadan, where he chronicled his graduate research experience and advised the student researchers to remain zealous in their academic pursuits.

Kumar’s presentation, titled “Chasing unknown viruses─recounting the mystery of the pigeon pea Sterility Mosaic Disease”, based on two journal articles of his past work, gave members of the International Association of Research Scholars and Fellows (IARSAF) an overview of his groundbreaking PhD research, which identified the elusive and destructive Pigeonpea Sterility Mosaic Virus (PPSMV) and how that work shaped his future career.

According to Kumar, the Sterility Mosaic Disease (SMD), for a long time, was a mysterious disease that significantly affected the pigeon pea crop in Asia. Affected plants remained green but did not fruit, earning the disease the nickname ‘the Green Plague’. In 1993, India and Nepal suffered an estimated

PPSMV identified by Lava Kumar during his graduate research. The discovery was recognized for its overall contribution in controlling the destructive Sterility Mosiac Disease.

$282 million loss from SMD. Kumar’s PhD research, conducted at ICRISAT and the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI; presently James Hutton Institute) resulted in the identification of the SMD causal agent, a novel virus with an unusual combination of properties. Identifying the virus, named PPSMV, was significant in finding sustainable solutions to SMD, even winning the prestigious CIGAR Young Scientist Award in 2004 for overall contribution to the control of SMD and pigeonpea improvement.

Its discovery remains important in the understanding of several eriophyid mitetransmitted diseases of undefined etiology.

Kumar is the first scientist to present at the IARSAF monthly journal club, an event where graduate students review and discuss publications authored by IITA scientists. At the close of his presentation, Kumar encouraged the graduate students to stay focused, be innovative, and above all remain self-motivated.

IITA upgrades to fraud management policy

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ITA has revised and upgraded its Whistleblowing Policy to a Fraud Management Policy following a survey carried out on staff’s awareness of the Institute’s policy on whistleblowing.

The objective of the policy is to set out the Institute’s stance on fraud and to reinforce existing systems, policies, and procedures of IITA aimed at deterring, preventing, detecting, reacting to, and reducing the impact of fraud.

The upgrade ensures the policy remains relevant to the current practices in global fraud and corruption management. It is supported with a Whistleblowing Guideline, which provides procedures for the submission, treatment, and feedback of complaints regarding suspected irregularities.

As a publicly funded international research organization, IITA is required to exercise diligent stewardship of its resources.

The values, directions, and criteria that IITA draws on to guide its financial choices come from imperatives rooted in current best practices for managing public funds. The public nature of IITA’s resources requires that the organization be committed and proactively address fraud risk factors in its operations and at all levels of management action.

p r o v i d e direction and help to IITA employees who find themselves having to deal with suspected cases of impropriety. It provides a framework for responding to such cases and gives advice and information on various aspects and implications of an investigation.

The Fraud Management Policy applies to all forms of fraudulent behavior, or suspected fraudulent behavior, involving employees and/or any other parties with a business relationship with IITA. It is intended to

The Fraud Management Policy will strengthen IITA’s ability to promote accountability, assure scientific quality and integrity, and provide a fair and rewarding working environment.

Announcements • Africa RISING ESA project review and planning meeting, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, 30 June -2 July • Africa RISING - NAFAKA scaling project review and planning meeting, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, 4-5 July • 3rd All Africa Horticultural Congress, Theme: “Horticultural for Improved Livelihoods”, Conference Center, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria, 7-12 August.

• 7th International Nitrogen Initiative Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 4–8 December.

More details on the conference are available here.

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IITA and Office of the Vice President of Nigeria explore areas of collaboration

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ITA and the Job Creation Unit (JCU) under the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria are exploring areas of possible collaboration with a view to creating jobs for youth in the country.

At a meeting in IITA in Ibadan on 10 June, Kenton Dashiell, Deputy Director General for Partnerships for Delivery and Alfred Dixon, Head of Partnerships Delivery Office, met with officials of the JCU. The meeting, which was a follow up to the ENABLE Youth program that was recently held in Abuja, sought to identify possible areas of collaboration between IITA and JCU using the IITA Youth Agripreneur (IYA) model as a platform and also showcase IITA-IYA enterprises and facilities.

The leader of the delegation, Adefemi Adeniyi, said the JCU is a vehicle of the Nigerian Government for creating 4 million jobs. It has a mandate of creating these jobs in 4 years through five focal areas: Agriculture, Construction, ICT, Retail and Wholesale, and Renewable Energy. Three million out of the 4 million jobs are expected from Agriculture. He explained that the JCU initiative is jointly packaged by the Office of the Presidency and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.

Dixon, in his welcome remarks, emphasized his conviction that Africa can feed the world.

IITA and JCU discuss possible areas of collaboration.

He stated that the public−private sector collaboration is very important in the drive towards achieving job creation and tackling hunger and creating wealth.

The parties potentially identified three broad areas for partnership. These include advocacy, finance, and integrating the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to create solutions such as market linkages.

Adeniyi said that the JCU has developed some ICT applications and they would prefer having the IYA test-run them. He floated the idea of linking IYA to off-takers for their value-added products to the market.

Both parties also discussed the proposal of aligning IYA with the School Feeding program of the Federal Government.

In addition, a tour was conducted around the IITA campus with strategic stops at IYA locations.

The next meeting will take place on 27 June when Adeniyi will propose a solid plan on the areas of partnership.

Dashiell thanked the Government for its support to IITA and for the initiative to partner on job creation, promising that IITA would do its best to help meet the goals and aspiration of the program.

AfricaYam project strengthens yam breeding capacity

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he AfricaYam project is hosting two weeks of training, 20 June to 1 July, at IITA, Ibadan, to effectively equip yam research personnel on techniques for phenotyping yam for disease and developing pest resistant varieties.

Participants learn key aspects of phenotyping for yam diseases.

IITA Bulletin 2331

Yam has been plagued by anthracnose, nematodes, and viruses, with a high number of these integrated in its DNA. The training is expected to address these issues. It is organized by Lava Kumar, Head of IITA’s Germplasm Health Unit, and features hands-on application of various phenotyping methods in laboratories and on-farm.

Participants have been briefed on the working principles of methods and procedures, experimentation, data collection using manual and digital methods, and the interpretation of results and conclusions on genotype reaction.

Experts from IITA and other research institutes in the field of phenotyping and breeding for disease resistance will talk about the key aspects of phenotyping methods, pathogen and pest isolation

methods, diagnostic methods, and data analysis. They include Michael Abberton, Head of Genetic Resources Center; David De Koeyer, AfricaYam Project Leader; Badara Gueye, Head of In vitro gene bank; Ranjana Bhattacharjee, Molecular Geneticist; Joseph Onyeka, Head of Pathology Unit at NRCRI; and Olufisayo Kolade, Postdoctoral Fellow and phenotyping specialist.

One of the key objectives of the AfricaYam project is to breed high yielding, good quality tubers with resistance to diseases (anthracnose and yam mosaic virus) and nematodes. This goal is achievable and will address many constraints caused by yam diseases which have negative economic impacts on farmers’ income due to on-farm and storage losses of yam tubers.

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Welcome Pieter Pypers, from Belgium, and an integrated soil fertility management specialist, has joined IITA as a Senior Agronomist on the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI). He is based at the Central Africa Hub station in Nairobi, Kenya.

Pypers obtained his PhD in Bio-Engineering Sciences from KU Leuven, Belgium in 2006, and conducted his PhD research at IITA-Ibadan on phosphorus availability and acquisition in legume−cereal systems using isotopic dilution techniques.

Before this appointment, Pieter worked in several collaborative research projects at TSBF-CIAT (2006−2011) on nutrient management in cassava-, maize- and legume-based cropping systems, the Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA), and COMPRO (a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundationfunded project on testing and promoting commercial agricultural products). He had also led a team of statisticians at BASF Plant Science (2012−2015) in charge of field trial data analysis and in-field testing strategies for gene traits.

He is skilled in fundamental research techniques to study soil processes and mechanisms underlying nutrient availability, as well as applied research methodologies, including adaptive and multilocational testing of soil and crop management technologies with smallholder farmers, and has advanced knowledge of experimental design and statistical data analysis.

Contact details: IITA c/o icipe, Kasarani, Thika Road, PO Box 30772, 0100 Nairobi, Kenya. Tel. +254 20 863 2992, Mobile +254 727 876796; Email: p.pypers@cgiar.org Awoyale Wasiu, a Nigerian, is the Visiting Scientist/ Cassava Value Chain Specialist of the Smallholder Agricultural Productivity Enhancement and Commercialization (SAPEC) Project. He is based in Liberia.

He obtained his Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Food Science and Technology from the Ogun State Polytechnic (now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic), Abeokuta (1997). He has a BSc in Food Science and Technology (2004), MSc Food Processing and Storage

IITA Bulletin 2331

Technology (2010), and PhD in Food Processing and Storage Technology (2014) from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. Until this appointment, he was a consultant to the High Quality Cassava Flour Value Chain Project sponsored

by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) (2014 to 2016) and Cassava Value Chain Development Project (West Africa) sponsored by the Common Fund for Commodities, The Netherlands (2010 to 2012) at IITA. Additionally, between 2007 and 2009, he was a Research Fellow at IITA, where he completed his MSc research in the Crop Utilization Laboratory.

Contact details: Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) Suakoko, Bong County, Liberia; Tel. +231770021677, Email: w.awoyale@cgiar.org Michael Edet, a Nigerian, has assumed the role of Cassava Extension Agronomist at the IITA Station in Suakoko, Bong County, Liberia.

Michael’s field of specialization and interests are farming systems agronomy, teaching, and research. He obtained his BSc in Agronomy at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State (1989) and MSc in Agronomy (Crop production, 1995) and PhD in Agronomy with specialization in farming systems and crop production (2014) from the University of Ibadan. His professional background over the years has been on crop research and capacity building. Prior to this appointment, he worked as an Agronomist in various cassava value chain partnership projects at IITA Ibadan including Nestlé, WASCO, Crest Agro, Wealth Creation Agency (WECA) Ondo State, and the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) (2013-2015).

He also worked as a Research Associate in ATASP 1 project, Abuja Station (December 2015 to March 2016).

Contact details: Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), Suakoko, Bong County, Liberia; Tel. +231880307646, Email: m.edet@cgiar.org Benard Ouma Mware is a Plant Biotechnologist specializing in plant virology, genetic engineering, and plant transformation and holds the Postdoctoral Fellow/Cassava Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n

position at IITA-Nairobi-Kenya. He is a graduate from the University of Nairobi (BSc Agriculture and Msc Crop Protection) and recently completed his PhD (Biotechnology) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. He had worked as a Regional Agriculture Manager at Chalice-Canada based in Kenya tasked with agricultural project proposal development, implementation, and community capacity building (2009−2011). During the same period he worked as a Technical Consultant with Mikinduri Children of Hope (MCOH/ Chalice), also a Canadian organization based in Kenya (2009−2014) offering technical advice on agricultural technology transfer and adoption, and strategic planning and review of strategic documents, annual budgets, and technical reports.

Contact details: IITA-Nairobi, PO Box 30709, 00100 Nairobi. Tel. +254 711 033, Mobile +254 723 572 246, Email: b.mware@cgiar. org Jan Jacob (Jaap) Blom, a Dutch national, has joined IITA-Kampala, Uganda as Project Manager for the Netherlands funded “Policy action for sustainable intensification of Ugandan cropping systems” (PASIC) project. Jaap graduated with an MSc in Tropical animal husbandry, development economics and a degree in Didactics and pedagogics from Wageningen University in 1984.

He started working for a leading Dutch animal feed company and was posted for three years to the Yemen Arab Republic.

In 1992 Jaap started his work in Africa and was posted as a dairy farm manager and cheese maker for a commercial enterprise in Uganda. After successfully setting up the cheese business and training the staff in running the enterprise, Jaap moved on to train potential farm managers and extension staff at Bukalasa Agricultural College and joined staff at Makerere University, Faculty of Agriculture as a lecturer. He took up several positions as an agricultural and agribusiness specialist, team leader, and chief of party for Austria, Denmark, and the USA. In his last position for CLUSA/USDA he led a successful conservation farming project in northern Uganda.

Contact details: Plot 15 Naguru East Road, PO Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda; Tel. +256 (0)414 285060/4 Mobile +256 712 220816, Email: j.blom@cgiar.org

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