IITA boss calls for urgent action on climate change

Addressing national and international researchers attending a conference on Biotic stresses, climate change and agricultural production in Cotonou, Bénin, on Monday, Dr Sanginga noted that the emergence of agricultural pests such as the papaya mealybug was closely linked to climate change, stressing that there was the need to go beyond rhetoric to action.“Whatever recommendations we […]

Addressing national and international researchers attending a conference on Biotic stresses, climate change and agricultural production in Cotonou, Bénin, on Monday, Dr Sanginga noted that the emergence of agricultural pests such as the papaya mealybug was closely linked to climate change, stressing that there was the need to go beyond rhetoric to action.
“Whatever recommendations we make at this meeting, let’s work towards implementing them,” he said.
The Director General pinpointed to agricultural research and the capacity development of adequate human resources as the critical tools needed to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.
He cited the example of cassava pests (cassava mealybug) in which past research by IITA and partners had played a critical role in solving the problem and saving the crop from probable extinction in Africa.
The Interim Director General of Africa Rice, Dr Adama Traoré, pledged that his organisation would support the implementation of the meeting recommendations, saying that would go a long way in addressing agricultural productivity in the region.
Researchers at the conference said the impact of climate change on biodiversity linked to biotic stresses could have a deep impact on agricultural productivity.
For instance, they noted, studies have suggested that climate change might adversely influence established biological control by curbing natural enemy–pest interactions.
Also, extreme climatic events may affect the benefits provided by living things in the soil ecosystem such as endophytes, rhizobia, and mycorrhiza.
“All these interactions need to be properly assessed and documented to develop and deploy preemptive and adaptation strategies,” said Dr David Arodokoun, the Director General of the National Institute of Agricultural Research of Bénin (INRAB).
In West and Central Africa, most of the current studies targeting the impacts of climate change on agriculture have focused directly on productivity (i.e., crop yields), or indirectly, on livelihoods.
Arodokoun said the regional meeting has brought together researchers working on biotic stresses linked to climate change affecting the region as a first step to take stock of the available human and infrastructural resources.
This, he said, was a starting point for defining a common regional strategy for managing biotic stresses and biodiversity under changing climatic conditions.
The regional meeting attracted policymakers and national and international scientists working in the West and Central African region, and it was attended by donors and members of IITA board of trustees.
Dr Yacoubou Toure, the Directeur de Cabinet du Ministre de Agriculture, declared the event open.