NEWS IN GHANA

About 20 African countries have thrown their weight behind the IITA Youth Agripreneur (IYA) initiative—a pilot scheme that is engaging youths in agriculture with clear signals of ending youth unemployment in the continent. The initiative has also been endorsed by the IITA Board of Trustees, according to Dr Namanga Ngongi, IITA Board member.    IYA changes the mindset of young people towards agriculture and equips them with various opportunities in the production and marketing of agricultural products, cutting across value chains such as cassava, banana/plantain, soybean, maize, vegetables, livestock, and fish production.    The countries supported the IYA initiative in a communiqué at the end of a conceptualization workshop on Engagement of Youth Entrepreneurship for Agricultural Transformation in Africa that was held at IITA in Ibadan, Nigeria, from 28 to 30 May 2014.    About 200 participants reviewed the current unemployment situation in the continent, and noted that youth une

Improved maize germplasm developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and disseminated across Africa is improving livelihoods, and the impact on the continent is greater than earlier imagined, according to the President of the International Corn Foundation, Dr Soon Kwon Kim.      In a seminar organized by IITA West Africa Hub today entitled: “Promotion of IITA maize streak resistant (SR) varieties and   Striga   tolerant or resistant (STR) varieties to ten African countries with Korean Government Support,” Dr Kim reviewed the contribution of maize streak resistant varieties and   Striga   tolerant or resistant varieties across the continent.      Probably the most devastating disease that attacks maize in Africa, maize streak virus (MSV), leads to stunting, and farmers may lose 100 percent of the crop.   Striga   (a parasitic weed), on the other hand, attacks cereals and legumes and losses are in the neighborhood of US$8bn, endangering the liveliho