IITA Research for Development conference

24-25 November 2017. Ibadan. This IITA conference was part of the IITA R4D (Research for Development) Week, during which IITA scientists from all over Africa congregated at the Headquarters in Ibadan, to deliberate on the research orientation for the future. A number of world-class scientists were invited to this conference, to come share ideas with the team of IITA researchers. There was also a field visits to research and delivery facilities of the institute.

The second day of the Conference included an “Open Day” event, with opportunities for visiting various booths exhibiting research and delivery products, methods and tools.

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Extracts of the program

Technical Session 1:

• The Renaissance of Farming Systems Research in Africa – Prof Ken Giller, Wageningen Centre for Agroecology and Systems Analysis, Wageningen University 
• Transforming African Agriculture in the face of climate change – Dr Bruce Campbell, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), CIAT 
• The rise of the processing sector in African agriculture: Economic Recovery, urbanization, and transformation of traditional staple value chains – Dr. Ousmane Badiane, Director for Africa, IFPRI

Technical Session 2:

• New opportunities from molecular science for removing constraints to sustainable farming – Prof John A Pickett, Michael Elliott Distinguished Research Fellow, Rothamsted Research Institute, UK
• The Future Prospects for NERICA rice in Food Security over the next 50 years – Prof. Monty Jones, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Sierra Leone. Formerly: Executive Director of FARA; World Food Prize laureate (2004) 
• Building sustainable food systems for the 21st Century: the potential of diversified agroecological farming – Dr Emile Frison, Member of IPES-Food and former Director-General of Bioversity International, Rome, Italy

Technical Session 3:

• Transforming African Agriculture: IITA’s research and delivery orientation into the future – Dr May-Guri Saethre, Deputy Director-General (R4D), IITA 
• Young people and rural transformation in Africa: Looking back to look forward – Dr. James Sumberg, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK 
• Developing world-class genebanks to keep pace with users – Ms Charlotte Lusty, Coordinator, CGIAR Genebank Platform, Global Crop Diversity Trust