AfricaRice, IITA deepen alliance
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Africa Rice Center, Côte d’Ivoire, have strengthened their strategic alliance in a renewed push to tackle Africa’s food security challenges through
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Africa Rice Center, Côte d’Ivoire, have strengthened their strategic alliance in a renewed push to tackle Africa’s food security challenges through science-driven innovation, even as the IITA expands grassroots capacity building with a major yam seed training programme in Cross River State.
The renewed partnership was underscored during a high-level visit by IITA’s Director General to AfricaRice’s main research station in Mbé, signalling deeper collaboration between the two CGIAR sister institutions. The visit comes at a time when Africa’s rising food import bill—estimated at over $40 billion annually—continues to strain economies and expose vulnerabilities in domestic production systems.
Speaking during the engagement, AfricaRice Director General, Baboucarr Manneh, stressed the urgency of scaling science-based solutions to reverse the trend. “Through seed innovation and optimized farming practices, we can increase yields by 30 to 50 percent while doubling farmers’ incomes, and this is why it is important to have solid partnerships in the agri-science community,” he said.
Both institutions highlighted measurable gains recorded under joint initiatives, particularly the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation programme led by the African Development Bank(AfDB). Since its launch in 2018, the programme has reached nearly 25 million farmers and expanded climate-smart practices across more than 35 million hectares. While IITA provides overall coordination, AfricaRice leads the rice component, deploying high-yielding varieties tailored to African conditions.In February this year,, the AfDB further reinforced confidence in the partnership with a $16.6 million grant awarded to IITA to drive the next phase of the programme, targeting an additional 14 million farmers across 37 countries.
Beyond cereals, both centres are also co-leading the Zero Hunger Project funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, targeting smallholder farmers in Nigeria and Togo. The initiative has already trained thousands in seed production and helped establish Togo’s first national certification protocols for key crops, marking a milestone in seed system development.
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IITA Director General, Simeon Ehui, described the partnership as critical to building resilient food systems across the continent. “Our complementarity is our strength. This win-win partnership will help improve our food systems—a major challenge we must address together,” he said.
The collaboration has also delivered gender-responsive innovations such as the GEM rice parboiling technology, which is improving the livelihoods of women processors across West Africa by enhancing grain quality and boosting incomes.While scaling continental impact through research partnerships, IITA is simultaneously intensifying field-level interventions in Nigeria. In Cross River State, the institute, in collaboration with the state government, held a week-long Training of Trainers programme aimed at strengthening yam seed systems and promoting agribusiness development.The training brought together farmers, extension agents and agricultural officials to drive the adoption of improved seed technologies and agronomic practices. Participants are expected to cascade the knowledge to farming communities through a structured step-down model. Field and Seed Systems Specialist ,IITA, Olugboyega Pelemo, underscored the importance of capacity building in scaling innovation. “Technologies such as the minisett, vine cutting, SAH and mini tubers that we have developed at IITA will only become visible when it is scaled, and scaling can become impactful when the capacity of key actors are developed. At the end of the training, the beneficiaries will transfer the knowledge to the last mile users in their various communities across Cross River State,” he said. Cross River State Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, Johnson Andiambey Ebokpo, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to agricultural transformation. “As part of the agricultural agenda, the government is committed to providing the requisite capacity and resources to support farmers, and this training for yam farmers being facilitated by IITA is the first, as we will be replicating the same initiative across other crops like plantain,” he said.
