Agricultural Institute’s work highlighted by the BBC

BBC Radio 4 Africalab is set to air a programme tonight highlighting the work of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in alleviating hunger and poverty in Africa. The show will centre around an interview with the Institute’s Director General Mr. Hartmann and include the thoughts of other staff members at IITA’s campus in Ibadan, Nigeria. Excerpts of the show, which served to show how agricultural solutions, come to on the ground in Africa, are doing much to win the war against hunger and poverty on the Continent, are available online. IITA uses conventional techniques rather than genetic modification to come up with crop breeds that are high yielding and disease resistant. It also seeks innovative ways to combat other enemies to food security such as parasites and weeds. The institutes hires some of the world’s best breeders and minds who produces sustainable results by being directly on the ground where they are able to see first hand what might work and what might not. This on a continent that has all to often had ‘solutions’ forced on it which really didn’t take into account the realities on the ground.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7330259.stm