6.1. Host Country Relationships
6.2. National Institutions
6.3. CGIAR Centres and Other International Organizations
6.4. Advanced Institutions
The Institute has been able to carry forward its programmes in Nigeria effectively by following opportune and pragmatic strategies, including some decentralization of its work to other parts of Africa. However, the sluggish economy and unstable domestic environment of Nigeria over the last decade have created some difficulties for IITA both in financial terms - mainly because of the impact of artificial foreign exchange regulations - and in regard to living and working conditions for staff. Decentralization has been a deliberate policy of IITA since the preparation of its Strategic Plan in 1988, in order to achieve (a) sharper focus on particular agroecologies and (b) more regional transparency, particularly in respect of francophone linkages.
Despite the unstable and deteriorating national scenario, IITA has improved its relations with the country's authorities, as compared to the conditions prevailing in the mid-1980s. In fact, the Institute has finally had its Headquarters Agreement with the Government of Nigeria fully implemented as of 1991, which gives IITA diplomatic privileges. Besides, the Institute has regularly received special assistance from state- and national-level authorities during times of breakdown of public services, so as to permit the normal functioning of the Institute. At present, there is still pending the question of Nigeria's contribution to the CGIAR, which has not been paid in accordance with the agreed dollar values. However, this is expected to be corrected soon.
It should be clear from all the above that host-country conditions have not been conducive to close and efficient collaboration with the IITA. The intermittent shifts in official reporting or contact point (i.e. the Ministries of Planning, of Agriculture and of Science and Technology) and the frequent turnover of officials are also detrimental to collaborative efforts. In particular, the fact that public agricultural research in Nigeria is conducted by some 16 independent institutes, loosely coordinated by a central administration, makes it difficult for IITA to establish broad and stable joint activities with national institutions.
Despite the obstacles noted, there is good, direct cooperation with parts of the Nigerian NARS, for example:
· Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) within whose premises at Kano, in the north of the country, IITA has established its station for cowpea research;· National Root Crops Research Institute in the south east, with which IITA maintains close collaborative projects, especially for cassava, yam and farming systems research;
· Institute for Agricultural Research and Training, for downy mildew resistance in maize and use of their Ikenne farm
· Shell Petroleum Extension Service for distribution of improved plantains
· Nigerian Plant Quarantine Service for international exchange of germplasm.
Contacts and collaboration with the agricultural departments of Nigerian universities has diminished relative to earlier times, especially in regard to the University of Ibadan. As a consequence of factors such as poor public funding, academic instability and loss of qualified staff of these institutions, the atmosphere is not conducive to effective joint research. Thus, the main collaboration occurs in the form of graduate training in research at IITA for students who receive their degrees from various national universities (see Section 3.3.). Access to the IITA library and some of its research facilities by national researchers/students also provides a useful service to the local scientific community. Some IITA international staff are honourary research fellows at the University of Ibadan.
As IITA has decentralized its operations, the concept of "host-country" extends also to those nations where the other stations are located. In this respect, conditions are as follows.
Benin: Two of IITA's PHMD programmes, biological control and habitat management have been based in the Cotonou Station since 1988/89. Relations with the national authorities, formalized through a protocol of 1986, are good and the country generally offers quite favourable operating conditions.
Cameroon, with which IITA has a formal cooperation agreement since 1986, has become the major location for resource and crop management research for the humid tropics. IITA researchers are based at Yaoundé and at the nearby Mbalmayo Station, developed on an area of 1,000 hectares made available by the government. Close collaborative ties have been established with IRA. IITA facilities are adjacent to IRA headquarters.
Uganda: IITA established its programme for the Mid-Altitudes Savanna Zone at ESARC in this country through an official agreement with the government in 1993. The Institute is developing its research facilities within the main station of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), at Namulonge. Rapport with the local scientific community is excellent and staff working and living conditions at present are satisfactory.
Côte d'Ivoire: IITA signed a cooperative agreement with the government in 1993 to carry out research for the Moist Savanna Zones. IITA is in the process of establishing a station at the Ferkessedougou Station of the National Agricultural Research Institute for the Savannas (IDESSA). Although activities at this location are still at the early stages, local support and collaboration have been excellent.
IITA's primary partners in agricultural research are the NARS, composed of the national governmental agricultural research departments, the national agricultural university systems, as well as any other governmental or non-governmental agricultural research agencies. IITA could not achieve its goals without effective linkages to these national programmes; this partnership is, indeed, essential for IITA's research delivery.
The strength of the NARS in the region is highly variable and so are the opportunities for NARS-IITA collaboration. Elsewhere in this report (Section 3.1.) the mechanisms and organizational methods, and achievements of IITA's more formal collaborative activities with NARS are highlighted (Networks, Resident Scientist Scheme, Research Liaison Scheme). In addition to such formal contacts between IITA and NARS, there is a multitude of further, less formal collaborative arrangements and understandings which comprise a dense network of communication and ground-level cooperation.
Collaborative activities which involve transfer of technology and training of national staff do not normally call for specific legal agreements or memoranda of understanding between IITA and the respective NARS. In other cases, with more substantial IITA involvement, such agreements which define the role and responsibilities of the parties have been reached. This is particularly the case when IITA scientists are placed in the national programme in the framework of such collaboration. During the period under review, the following Memoranda of Agreement have been signed: with Ghana (1992), Côte d'Ivoire (1992), and Burundi (1994) to facilitate common programmes of research and training; with Mozambique (1990), Tanzania (1994) and Malawi (1995), to facilitate the implementation of bilateral and regional activities; and with Sierra Leone (1991), Uganda (1991), Guinea Conakry, and Nigeria (1992) in the framework of collaborative biological control operations. Such agreements provide the centre's collaborative activities with the necessary legal standing and contribute to a high degree of transparency and accountability.
Whether supported by bilateral agreements of understanding or not, there is a broad range of contacts in research, training and communication and documentation between IITA and national agricultural researchers which extend beyond the ones maintained in the formal arrangements of networks, or resident scientist schemes reported in Chapter 3. A survey was carried out by the TAC Secretariat on the collaborative activities between IITA and the NARS in the region in 1994. The respondents recorded that they wish to intensify collaboration with the Institute. IITA's training and particularly their information activities were highly rated by the respondents. Of particular importance for the respondents who had been in one way or another associated with IITA's activities, were the Institute's research programmes. IITA-supported networks were given variable but generally not outstanding scores, while the respondents unanimously endorsed IITA's mission, and goals and long-term strategy. They were, on the other hand, less satisfied with the level of technical benefits they had received.
A very significant development in the review period which is highlighted here has been the development of the ESARC for the improvement of cassava, banana and plantain (formally created in 1993) as a basis for longer-term research activities with Uganda's NARO, the host institution and the national systems of the two regions, associated in SADC (SACCAR) and ASARECA, respectively. This initiative has been prepared in broadly-based consultations in the region and is, in its organizational structures (Executive and Steering Committees) and in its participatory approaches, a model for the enhancing of IARC-NARS collaboration. The Panel congratulates IITA for its contribution to this promising development.
It is difficult to present full coverage of the wide range of IITA-NARS interactions. However, the Panel has reviewed a number of collaborative situations which may be mentioned here as selected cases.
In northern Nigeria there are currently four linkages of substance: with the IAR at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), with the Kano State Agricultural Development Project, primarily through CID (cowpea); with the Bauchi State Agricultural Development Project (BSADP) and NGO (Development Research Centre), through RCMD. The linkage is strongest at Kano, with IITA staff working in the same complex as IAR which has allocated a portion of the experimental farm at Minjibir to IITA. Costs of the municipal facilities at Kano are shared by IITA and IAR. The linkages in northern Nigeria are maintained in several ways, e.g. through joint annual IAR/IITA review and planning meetings. The IITA cowpea breeder is a member of the IAR Legume and Oilseed Research Programme Review Committee and IITA staff participate in IAR's Annual Cropping Scheme Meeting. There is also a linkage through joint activities, such as the joint research field day during the cowpea season at Minjibir and Samaru (IAR headquarters); joint supervision of postgraduate degree research projects for those registered at ABU; joint participation in networks (West and Central African Cowpea Network - RENACO), West Africa Farming Systems Network); joint participation in nationally coordinated research projects (cowpea, soybean); collaboration in on-station and on-farm adaptive research (farmer participatory variety screening of cowpea and cowpea/sorghum, cowpea/maize, soybean/maize systems evaluation) and joint IAR/IITA preparation of training manuals relating to cowpea diseases and agronomy.
A prominent IAR scientist participates in IITA's Task Force for the Ecoregional Programme for the Humid and Subhumid Tropics in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the Bauchi benchmark area, BSADP has helped RCMD in locating villages for the survey work and continues to give feedback on trials and research themes. The link with the Development Research Centre (working with women farmers' groups) is primarily in the area of postharvest engineering.
The Plant Health Management Division, with its Biological Control Programme has established a very dense network of working relationships with national researchers and research groups throughout sub-Saharan Africa. This research relates to the control of the cassava mealybug, the cassava green mite (CGM), water weeds, the banana weevil, and cereal stem borers; the activities also include capacity-building through training. National interest and commitment to biological pest control have been greatly enhanced by these activities, as evidenced, e.g. by the strength of the Ghana plant protection services arid by the formation of a national Society of Entomology in Côte d'Ivoire.
Each of the four Programmes within the Crop Improvement Division has working relationships with a variable but large number of national research groups concerned with genotypic selection for adaptation to local conditions of the crops researched. Improved cassava germplasm (provided as seed) is distributed annually for evaluation for pest & disease resistance (CGM, cassava mosaic virus, and cassava bacterial blight), high yield, dry matter and cooking quality to 33 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Technical backstopping and follow-up is provided to collaborators. Over 30 country programmes also received improved germplasm as in vitro plantlets for evaluation. There was a systematic increase in delivery per year from 1,170 virus-tested plantlets of 31 genotypes in 1990 to 2,385 plantlets of 130 genotypes in 1994. TRIP collaborated with various national programmes in the international testing of improved genotypes across West Africa. The expansion in activities in East and Southern Africa was greatly facilitated by the presence of two root crop networks - EARRNET and SARRNET.
During the period under review there was a very significant increase in collaboration on yam research between IITA and the NARS in Africa. Links with institutions on other continents were also maintained. The number of genotypes available for distribution as virus-tested, in vitro plantlets increased from five in 1990 to sixteen in 1994. A new means of delivery introduced in 1991 involves the production of minitubers from the virus-tested plantlets in a protected screenhouse. Over 1,000 of such certified minitubers were distributed each year from 1991 to 1994. The capacity for handling in vitro plantlets has improved greatly in the NARS following training. There has been increased use of botanic seeds received from IITA by NARS in the establishment of nurseries for selection in Benin, Uganda, Gambia, Ghana, Togo, Guinea and Rwanda, thus offering more variability than is possible in the clonal materials. Collaborators in eight West African countries are multiplying materials in the field for regional collaborative trials in 1996. IITA has also been involved in the formation of the African Yam Network. The relevant national programmes took the lead in this initiative in which, for the first time, IITA was truly a member rather than an implementing agent.
The Maize Improvement Programme offers various maize trials to national programmes for local evaluation, primarily in West and Central Africa. Large numbers of trials (1,637 in the period 1988-1992) are sent out to collaborators at their request of whom about half return data. From their analysis, stable high-yielding and disease-resistant varieties have been identified for different ecological regions. Most national programmes have released IITA streak resistant varieties directly or after selection; they have also used this material as a germplasm source in their own breeding.
Over the review period, several mechanisms for NARS collaboration in cowpea improvement were in place, such as:
· Cowpea International Trials, carried out in over 50 countries. The trials are routinely available and are conducted by national scientists with their own resources· West and Central Africa Cowpea Research Network which operated as part of SAFGRAD to 1993 and managed to obtain donor support in 1995
· SADC (SACCAR) regional project 1990-1993
· Special collaborative arrangements focusing on hotspots and linking with national collaborators in five countries for the evaluation of materials for specific traits which cannot be evaluated at IITA's sites;
· Monitoring tours and workshops.
For soybean international trial sets (seeds plus protocol for conducting the trial) are sent on request to collaborators in about 25 countries every year. Similarly the Plantain and Banana Improvement Programme has been evaluating improved germplasm in collaboration with regional centres, national programmes and NGOs in multilocational trials. In the cases of cassava, soybean, plantain, and banana postharvest technologies collaborative research activities were undertaken with NARS. IITA sponsored the formation of the African Plant Biotechnology Network in 1989. GRU collaborated closely with NARS in several African countries and Brazil in the collection and conservation of plant genetic resources of cassava, yam, cowpea and maize. GRU also facilitated the establishment of a NGO - the Plant Diversity Research Organization.
RCMD has collaborated successfully and extensively with NARS in Cameroon (Resident Scientist Scheme, see Section 3.1.2.1.). The vegetation characterization survey in the Moist Savanna Zone was carried out in collaboration with a variety of NARS, as was COSCA. New modes of institutional research collaboration will need to be designed in the context of ecoregional initiatives (see Section 4.2.8.).
The integration of IITA's research in the regional agricultural systems is multifaceted, contributes to the strengthening of the national research capacity and is highly appreciated, as shown in the feedback to the TAC survey among national collaborators.
6.3.1. Introduction
6.3.2. CGIAR Centres
6.3.3. Non-CGIAR Centres and Others
In current efforts to renew the CGIAR System and find its role for the future, a greater openness of the system is advocated. Growing complexity in science will make it likely that any given effort might involve all parts of the research continuum, from strategic through adaptive research. The consequence is that individual centres, indeed often the CGIAR System itself, will not have staff to cover all relevant specializations. To be efficient then, individual parts of the CGIAR must open up to new forms of collaboration. The CGIAR's innovations in "Systemwide global and ecoregional initiatives" are a response to this challenge. Such initiatives rest on an approach that brings new balance into international agricultural research. The approach features sustainable improvement of productivity as well as a strategy for the mobilization of the global research system to meet the sustainability challenge (CGIAR, 1995, A Research Agenda for the Future).
The request for closer collaboration between CGIAR centres is not new; centres have often been criticized for being too inward-looking and approaching each other as competitors rather than as partners. Such rivalry has reduced potential impact of research programmes and has often frustrated the NARS. The CGIAR intends to provide incentives for the formation of productive partnership - including those among CGIAR centres - and to adjust funding systems to facilitate these collaborative modes of working. The objective is for the CGIAR to become more outward looking in its mode of operation and accountable to a wider constituency through partnership.
The IITA Board and Management have on several occasions stressed their commitment to inter-centre collaboration, also in the context of the Systemwide initiatives and programmes; IITA's responsibilities there have been highlighted elsewhere in the report (Section 4.2.8.). IITA therefore has a broad range of cooperative arrangements with sister CGIAR centres and a generally successful track record of inter-centre collaboration.
Some of these arrangements are highlighted below.
In the context of the formation of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Global Livestock Research Initiative, IITA and ILRI agreed on substantially expanded joint crop-livestock interaction research for the moist savanna; IITA houses a team of ILRI scientists at Ibadan and provides it access to research facilities and comprehensive administrative and logistical support services in the framework of a detailed collaborative agreement. Joint research emphasizes the integration of herbaceous and woody legumes into crop farming for the benefit of soil fertility improvement, for soil conservation and livestock feed supply. The Panel commends the two centres for their excellent integration of programme planning and implementation.
CIAT (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical) has stationed a scientist at IITA in order to facilitate the transfer of cassava germplasm to Nigeria from Latin America and also for some in the reverse direction. At the time of the review the CIAT position was vacant because the incumbent had taken up an IITA appointment in SARRNET. Because of quarantine restrictions, parental clones cannot be sent from Latin America to IITA for crossing there; consequently CIAT sends true seeds from its crosses to IITA. CIAT has received from IITA materials with African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV) disease resistance for use in crossing. Some of these have been passed on to EMBRAPA/CNPMF (Brazil) to incorporate resistance in their breeding programme. A project to tag and map ACMV resistance is being prepared. A greater interaction between CIAT and IITA is foreseen in the area of host plant resistance to major African pests and diseases. Both Centres also participate in the Cassava Biotechnology Network, sharing several project protocols. IITA and CIAT jointly execute the Ecologically Sustainable Cassava Plant Protection (ESCaPP) in South America and Africa.
The intensity of the CIAT-IITA collaboration on cassava has greatly increased over the review period; there have also been joint activities in East Africa, particularly in training in the areas of legumes and IPM. CIAT is keen to have facilities with IITA in ESEARC for work on beans. The IITA-CIAT relationship has, in sum, been very productive during the review period.
IITA is providing access to the use of its facilities to scientists of ICRAF, CIMMYT, IRRI, WARDA and CIP who use IITA as a basis for their work. Such scientists have the same privileges as IITA staff with respect to living on campus and access to office and laboratory facilities.
ICRAF has two senior staff members in Cameroon. Both work closely with IITA, particularly in the context of the Alternatives-to-Slash-and-Burn project for which IITA has a coordinating role. Until recently one of these staff members was located at IITA in Ibadan for joint research on multipurpose trees. IITA and ICRAF also jointly sponsor the AFNETA network and collaborate in the conservation of germplasm of agroforestry species. While collaboration on the ground is good, there is, however, a need to agree more precisely the respective roles of the two institutions in the areas of agroforestry systems diagnosis and development and in research on component interaction, in order to avoid unnecessary overlap of activities.
The last EPR was very critical of the relationship between IITA and CIMMYT in sharing responsibility for maize improvement in Africa and particularly in West Africa. In January 1994 an agreement was finally ratified between the two institutions on "Areas of IITA and CIMMYT Cooperation on Maize Activities" which sets the terms for division of labour rather than for cooperation. A CIMMYT maize breeder and two IITA breeders (including one of whom also serves as the coordinator of the West and Central African Maize Network) are based at WARDA headquarters at Bouaké-M'bé. The CIMMYT breeder incorporates streak resistance into long-season, lowland tropical maize for West Africa and into short- and intermediate-duration maize targeted for East and Southern Africa, while the IITA breeders produce very short-, short- and intermediate-duration materials for West Africa. The Panel notes that CIMMYT continues to have a maize agronomist in Ghana in the Ghana Grains Development Project (up to end 1995).
The Panel considers that this situation is a workable but clearly a less than optimal solution of the long-standing dispute on CGIAR maize responsibilities in Africa. It decided, however, not to recommend any action, but to leave this to the forthcoming inter-centre cereals review.
The agreement between IITA, IRRI and WARDA on rice research in Africa foresees a gradual but comprehensive transfer of all activities from IITA to WARDA in the course of the current Medium-Term Plan (1994-1998). IITA has implemented this transfer as per the terms of the agreement. The residual rice activity currently maintained at IITA headquarters is the coordination of the International Network for Genetic
Evaluation of Rice in Africa (INGER Africa) with the presence of an IRRI rice scientist in charge. This is done for reasons of convenience (advanced facilities in GRU for the maintenance of the African rice collection, rice research facilities at Ibadan, good quarantine services in Nigeria). These are also the reasons for WARDA to base its lowland rice breeding and its African gall midge control programmes at IITA Ibadan. The decision as to whether and when INGER is transferred to WARDA and to what extent the IRRI scientist at IITA carries out prebreeding work on rice is a matter of agreement between WARDA and IRRI. It is worth mentioning here that the longstanding INGER activity in Africa supported by IITA has led to the release of 141 rice varieties in 27 African countries.
IITA is one of WARDA's key research partners in the region by virtue of its mandate for the humid and subhumid tropics, its location in West Africa and its programs for resource and crop management for the ecological zones that are of interest to both institutes. In order to facilitate the necessary level of interaction WARDA and IITA agreed to have mutual Board of Trustee representation on each others Programme Committee and to establish a Technical IITA-WARDA Task Force to define areas of complementarity among the programmes of the two Centres. The Panel is confident that these mechanisms are effective enough to support successful identification and integration of common research agendas.
IITA and WARDA share responsibilities in the CGIAR ecoregional programme in warm humid and subhumid tropical Africa for which IITA was identified as the convening centre. WARDA has the lead role within this programme for the inland valley component. The corresponding research consortium with the participation of both centres was established in 1993.
After the transition of the sweet potato mandate to CIP, IITA continued to maintain the in vitro collection of germplasm. This has been partially duplicated by CIP at Lima. The CIP liaison scientist participated in some IITA training courses on root crops. CIP is also interested to use the IITA facilities at ESARC for backstopping of activities in East and South Africa. The secretariat for the potato network is already located in the IITA office in Kampala.
A close technical and administrative collaboration between IITA and ICRISAT has emerged in the review period at and around Kano, where IITA's cowpea breeding is primarily done. The Kano zone is outside IITA's ecological mandate area but not outside its commodity mandate area. The question whether cowpea should be an ICRISAT mandate crop is occasionally raised. Given the strengths of the IITA cowpea breeding programme and its strong production systems orientation, and given the adequate level of IITA-ICRISAT interaction in research on cropping systems containing cowpea, the Panel does not recommend any immediate action but suggests that the subject is reassessed as part of the IITA mandate in the preparation of the next Medium-Term Plan.
IITA entertains close collaborative links with IPGRI and INIBAP in various ways. IITA is the centre with the best plant genetic resource conservation facilities of the entire region and with one of the broadest coverages of species in the CGIAR System; IITA is thus a key partner for IPGRI in agrobiodiversity, and plant genetic resources research, training and information activities for Africa, particularly in the context of the Systemwide Genetic Resources Programme (SGRP). A joint IITA/IPGRI/FAO training course has been organized. The Panel encourages IITA to play a proactive role in this initiative. The IITA-INIBAP interaction involves joint work on training and information/documentation. A detailed working arrangement has been agreed in East and Southern Africa with respect to highland Musa research. A matter of concern related to safe exchange of Musa germplasm has swiftly been addressed by IITA through special project funding which will result in the development of indexing facilities.
ICIPE (International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology). New far-reaching opportunities for collaboration between IITA and ICIPE have emerged with the appointment of the new Director General of ICIPE, formerly Director of PHMD at IITA. These range from mutual logistical support to the exchange of scientists and integrated research protocols. ICIPE has decided to concentrate on non-CGIAR food and horticultural crop pests and will devolve its banana research to IITA in order to contribute to complementarity between the two institutes.
CIRAD (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement). The DG of IITA is a member of the Programme Committee of CIRAD's Annual Crops Department.
A very positive development in the review period has been the signing in 1991 of a general agreement between IITA and the French Institut de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), CIRAD, and the Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération (ORSTOM) on the coordination of research efforts and on research collaboration. Specific agreements were signed with CIRAD in 1993 concerning research on yams in sub-Saharan Africa and in 1994 with ORSTOM concerning modelling of CGM biocontrol. One CIRAD and one ORSTOM scientist are based at Cotonou.
IBSRAM (International Board on soil Research and Management). Training/acid soil network/CGIAR soil, water and nutrient management initiative.
IFDC (International Fertilizer Development Centre). Soil, water and nutrient management initiative.
TSBF (Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Programme). Alternatives-to Slash-and Burn Initiative.
The 1990 EPR identified a lack of critical mass in many of the Institute's research programmes and also recognized that in some fast-moving fields of science, such as biotechnology, IITA scientists could experience difficulty in keeping abreast of developments. Consequently, it attached considerable importance to external links with advanced institutes, both public and private, as a means of maintaining scientific awareness within the Institute.
Without making a formal recommendation, the 1990 EPR expressed its concern that "direction and research agenda of linkage arrangements are seldom controlled by IITA" and it advised the Institute, inter alia, to focus on relatively few priority areas in which it played the leading role in the initiation and conduct of collaborative projects. The further suggestion was made that IITA should consider collaboration with the increasingly important private sector in developed countries. A modest amount of this type of collaboration is in place, e.g. with PGS, Belgium and Monsanto. In addition, in collaboration with the International Service for the Acquisition of Agric-biotec Applications (Cornell University, USA), IITA has tried to link to the private sector, especially for the acquisition of genes and recombinant DNA technology. Similarly, links with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) provide a way for tapping the rich vein of anti-fungal proteins developed by the collaboration between KUL and ZENACO. However, IITA's experience to date in this area of prospecting, is that the private sector are not really forthcoming. Hopefully time and further developments in this field will cause some favourable adjustments in the private sector's current attitudes towards nonprofit making organizations which focus their work on the developing world.
During the present review period only four memoranda of understanding were signed with advanced laboratories or research organizations abroad: 1992, University of Amsterdam for quarantine of predator mites of CGM; 1992, University of Maryland Eastern Shore on agricultural research and training on root and tuber crops; 1992, Natural Resources Institutes (NRI) on postharvest technology and virology; 1993, KUL on soil organic matter research.
This does not reflect the considerable professional contact IITA scientists have with colleagues abroad (sometimes within the framework of core-supplementing projects). PHMD, in its divisional annual report for 1994, published a very long list of scientific collaborators of whom some 50 are located in advanced institutes or universities (excluding IARCs) outside Africa. In some cases these contacts can be very useful as demonstrated by the collaborative work of IITA and FIC, combined with the technical support of the University of Minnesota for development of diagnostic tools for banana streak virus (BSV).
CAB International collaborates with IITA on a wide range of research and training activities in plant health management through several of its institutes. Collaboration between the International Institute of Biological Control (IIBC) and PHMD is on the LUBILOSA project has been successful for biological control of the water hyacinth and the mango mealybug. Through the Uganda Banana Improvement Programme, the International Mycological Institute (IMI) interacts with IITA on Fusarium wilt. The International Institute of Parasitology (IIP) collaborates with PHMD on studies of root nematodes of bananas and joint work is undertaken between IIP and CID/TRIP on resistance in yams to nematodes.
Current interactions with Natural Resources Institute (NRI) involve the development and implementation of the processing component of the COSCA project; collaboration on a training programme in postharvest technology of the Non-Grain Starch Staples (NGSS) Project in Uganda and collaboration on the epidemiology of ACMV and feeding behaviour of the leafhopper vectors of maize streak disease. Part of NRI's yam research in Nigeria uses land and facilities at IITA's Onne Station.
External linkages in CID are understandably concerned mostly with biotechnology. These cover work in cowpea biotechnology with several universities in Italy, the USA and Belgium and are fully interactive with regular reviews of progress and the exchange of visits. A new series of joint projects concerning yam and cowpea, and the BSV diagnostic project mentioned earlier has been established with the John Innes Institute in the UK with subcontracts to NRI and Horticultural Research International. In Musa biotechnology, the links forged with KUL have been maintained. Other collaborative projects cover in vitro micropropagation of yam, cassava root quality and cyanogenesis in cassava linking with Wye College (UK), NRI and Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark respectively. The importance of information exchange and reciprocal visits and the free availability of any research outputs in Africa are key considerations in the initiation of any links.
There are relatively few links involving RCMD, the only new project in the review period being that on organic matter with KUL listed above. Michigan State University has been involved in root studies using minirhizotrons as part of the continuing work on alley cropping. As part of a joint activity with ICRAF, the Multipurpose Trees Screening for West Africa project launched in 1990, involves Oregon State University.
The Panel has concluded that the links being formed by IITA at present are generally relevant to the main lines of research at the Institute and are targeted at appropriate advanced institutes. For the most part, the links appear to be genuinely collaborative and the Institute has gone some way towards countering the criticism that it is merely the recipient of scientific services on offer.
