{"id":12786,"date":"2026-06-20T12:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-maize-breeder-selected-as-a-fellow-of-the-prestigious-cssa\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:46:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:46:52","slug":"iita-maize-breeder-selected-as-a-fellow-of-the-prestigious-cssa","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-maize-breeder-selected-as-a-fellow-of-the-prestigious-cssa\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA maize breeder selected as a Fellow of the prestigious CSSA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Crop Science Society of America (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crops.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CSSA<\/a>) has selected Dr <a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/menkir-abebe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Abebe Menkir<\/a>, IITA Maize Breeder, as the recipient of the 2015 CSSA Fellow Award. Dr Menkir has received this prestigious recognition for his efforts spanning 19 years at IITA in breeding maize with high yield potential, resistance to diseases  and Striga, tolerance to drought,  and low levels of aflatoxin production. Many of these varieties have been registered  and released by the national agricultural research systems (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fao.org\/docrep\/w7501e\/w7501e06.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nars<\/a>)  and the private sector,  and have contributed to significant improvements in the productivity, income,  and well-being of people in West  and Central Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure id=\"attachment_13178\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13178\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/1024_Striga-IMG_3987_0617.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13178 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1024_Striga-IMG_3987_0617-300x200-1.jpg\" alt=\"Picture of IITA Maize Breeder Abebe Menkir (left) in the field with Abuelgasim Elzein, IITA Striga Biocontrol Specialist (right).\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13178\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">IITA Maize Breeder Abebe Menkir (left) in the field with Abuelgasim Elzein, IITA Striga Biocontrol Specialist (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to his laudable scientific achievements that have contributed to agricultural development, he was considered for this award because of his collaboration with the NARS, the private sector,  and advanced research institutes in the US, UK,  and Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor me this is a recognition of the output of the Maize Unit  and IITA\u2019s contributions to science  and development in Africa. I will continue to mentor the younger generations of scientists  and generate more varieties  and innovations that will have greater impact on the livelihoods of farmers,\u201d said Dr Menkir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Menkir will be formally recognized with this award during the 2015 Annual Meeting in the Hilton Minneapolis at the CSSA Breakfast, Awards,  and Plenary (Klepper Lecture) on 17 November.\u00a0He will also be acknowledged in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crops.org\/publications\/csa-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CSA News<\/a>  and other avenues, including a poster display at the Annual Meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pour plus d'informations :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andrea Gros, Chef de la communication, Si\u00e8ge de l'IITA, <a href=\"mailto:a.gros@cgiar.org\">a.gros@cgiar.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u00c0 propos de l'IITA<\/strong> <a title=\"Visit IITA website\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.iita.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">IITA is one of the world\u2019s leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition,  and poverty. Its award-winning research-for-development (R4D) approach addresses the development needs of tropical countries. IITA works with partners to enhance crop quality  and productivity, reduce producer  and consumer risks,  and generate wealth from agriculture. It is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967 in Nigeria  and governed by a Board of Trustees. IITA works on the following crops: cowpea, soybean, banana\/plantain, yam, cassava,  and maize. It is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) has selected Dr Abebe Menkir, IITA Maize Breeder, as the recipient of the 2015 CSSA Fellow Award. Dr Menkir has received this prestigious recognition for his efforts spanning 19 years at IITA in breeding maize with high yield potential, resistance to diseases and Striga, tolerance to drought, and low levels of aflatoxin production.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":12787,"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":[290],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[68],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[193],"class_list":["post-12786","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crop-science-society-of-americacssamaize","crop-maize","item-year-193"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>IITA maize breeder selected as a Fellow of the prestigious CSSA - IITA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-maize-breeder-selected-as-a-fellow-of-the-prestigious-cssa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IITA maize breeder selected as a Fellow of the prestigious CSSA - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) has selected Dr Abebe Menkir, IITA Maize Breeder, as the recipient of the 2015 CSSA Fellow Award. 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