{"id":12693,"date":"2026-06-20T12:58:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/global-congress-unveils-huge-scientific-evidence-on-root-and-tuber-crops\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T17:04:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T17:04:50","slug":"global-congress-unveils-huge-scientific-evidence-on-root-and-tuber-crops","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/global-congress-unveils-huge-scientific-evidence-on-root-and-tuber-crops\/","title":{"rendered":"Global congress unveils huge scientific evidence on root and tuber crops"},"content":{"rendered":"The World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops (<u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gcp21.org\/wcrtc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WCRTC<\/a><\/u>), held in Nanning, China, on 18-23 January, provided a wealth of scientific information on roots and tubers\u2014more than has been imagined. More than 540 abstracts were presented, cutting across breeding, value chain, and genomics. Being the first of its kind, the WCRTC brought together more than 560 participants including researchers, policymakers, development partners, industrialists, and farmers, according to Claude Fauquet, Coordinator of the WCRTC.\n<div id=\"attachment_292\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSC_0359_1024.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-292\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-292\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSC_0359_1024.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSC_0359_1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSC_0359_1024-300x128-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSC_0359_1024-768x327-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSC_0359_1024-450x192.jpg 450w\" alt=\"The First World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops held in Nanning, China,\" width=\"1024\" height=\"436\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-292\" \/><\/a>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-292\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The First World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops held in Nanning, China, highlighted the enormous amount of work being done by the research community on these important crops.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<u><a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/kulakow-peter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Peter Kulakow<\/a><\/u>, IITA Cassava Breeder, said the breadth and depth of information shared by researchers at the conference was of immense value to the scientific community.\n\n\u201cI see both African scientists and researchers from other parts of the world benefiting from the knowledge shared here,\u201d he said. Kulakow emphasized that the conference provided a great opportunity for young researchers to present their work to a global audience.\n\nGrown mostly in the developing world, root and tuber crops (RTC), including cassava, sweet potato, yam, potato, cocoyam, and other root crops, are important to the agriculture and food security of more than 100 countries. Overall, they are a component of the diet for 2.2 billion people as well as contributing to animal feeds and industry. Attention and in particular funding for research of these important staples are still behind crops such as wheat and maize\u2014a situation that has affected the amount of scientific evidence on the crops.\n\nThe WCRTC, however, revealed that much has been achieved especially in the area of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.news-medical.net\/life-sciences\/What-is-Genomics.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>genomics<\/u><\/a>\u00a0with several presentations highlighting the parallels and contrasts from the global south and the rest of the world.\n\n\u201cFrom the presentations, I have seen a lot of valuable work going on especially on cassava. This conference actually provides us a space to work together,\u201d said\u00a0<u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cgiar.org\/who-we-are\/whos-who\/cgiar-research...\/thiele\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Graham Thiele<\/a><\/u>, Director of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rtb.cgiar.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>Programme de recherche du CGIAR sur les racines, les tubercules et les bananes<\/u><\/a>.\n\nThe WCRTC was a unique opportunity for exchanging expert and scientific advice on RTCs\u2014in particular for the global South by\u00a0facilitating the discourse among key root and tuber crops stakeholders such as farmers, end-users, researchers, the private sector, and donor agencies.\n\nIt aimed to raise awareness of the importance of RTCs in the world, reviewing recent scientific progress, identifying and setting priorities for new opportunities and challenges as well as charting a course to seek R&amp;D support for areas where it is currently inadequate or lacking.\n\nThe First WCRTC was a result of the merger of the 3rd Scientific Conference of the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (<u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gcp21.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GCP21<\/a><\/u>) and the 17th Symposium of the International Society for Tropical Root Crops (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.istrc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>ISTRC<\/u><\/a>).\n\nMore than 20 IITA oral presentations and even more posters were featured during the parallel workshops and presentations. IITA also participated in the exhibition, which highlighted the benefits of the Institute\u2019s R4D work not only on RTCs, but other important African staples as well.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops (WCRTC), held in Nanning, China, on 18-23 January, provided a wealth of scientific information on roots and tubers\u2014more than has been imagined.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17624,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[2355],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[71],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[194],"class_list":["post-12693","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bulletin-no-2311cassavayam","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","crop-yam","item-year-194"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - 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