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The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria

IITA is a leading African crop center, also a member of the CGIAR and focuses on research and development of the key African food crops: banana and plantain, cassava, cowpea, maize, soybean, and yam. Impact of this important work is well documented on improving yields of major staple food crops, such as cassava, banana and plantain, and maize, across the Sub-Saharan African region with pest and disease resistance, and tolerance for abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, poor soils, and climate change.  IITA developed and deployed safe and more nutritious food crops such as legumes, cereals (vitamin A maize, with the first released orange maize varieties from IITA, and tubers (cassava) through biofortification, use of efficient and affordable biocontrol products against aflatoxins, and made these available to the smallholder farm families in the region to balance calories, diversify diets, and safeguard health and nutrition.