Repackaged agriculture isn”t the way of our parents

Africa needs the right messages and methods to attract young people to agriculture and end rising unemployment across the continent, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) says. Addressing the food insecurity question in Africa required collective efforts  from the different  institutions operating in Africa, stressing that “IITA  cannot succeed in  isolation,” said Kenton Dashiell, […]

Africa needs the right messages and methods to attract young people to agriculture and end rising unemployment across the continent, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) says.

Addressing the food insecurity question in Africa required collective efforts  from the different  institutions operating in Africa, stressing that “IITA  cannot succeed in  isolation,” said Kenton Dashiell, deputy director-general in charge of partnership for delivery at IITA.

His comments came in a message to journalists to mark the 2017 Media Day, part of activities celebrating IITA 50th anniversary on July 24.

He said creativity is crucial to how information on agricultural innovation is packaged and disseminated to young people in a way that would attract them into agriculture and clear illusions about the sector.

“Our message is this—agriculture is the  way to become wealthy.  But this cannot happen if it is practiced the way our  parents did. Fortunately,  IITA has advanced technologies that if used could make  farming very profitable  and fun for farmers,” said Dashiell.

The Media Day is the first time IITA would spend a full day with journalists to showcase its facilities, projects and direction in the next 50 years.

On its showcase are fields where IITA researchers developed strains to defeat Black Sigatoka disease on banana, cassava mealybug and maize streak virus.

From its laboratories have come breakthroughs—including the use of Aflasafe to make maize and groundnuts safer and innovations that have researchers growing yam in the air and new technologies being  developed to control  weeds in cassava.