{"id":13163,"date":"2026-06-20T12:26:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/agro-processing-facilities-at-iita-kalambo-excite-first-lady-of-dr-congo\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:26:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:31","slug":"agro-processing-facilities-at-iita-kalambo-excite-first-lady-of-dr-congo","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/agro-processing-facilities-at-iita-kalambo-excite-first-lady-of-dr-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Agro-processing facilities at IITA Kalambo excite First Lady of DR Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure id=\"attachment_10155\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10155\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Her-Excellency-Olive-Lembe-Kabila-DRC-first-lady-third-from-left..jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10155\" src=\"http:\/\/newint.iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Her-Excellency-Olive-Lembe-Kabila-DRC-first-lady-third-from-left..jpg\" alt=\"Photo of His Excellency Olive Lembe\" width=\"250\" height=\"141\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10155\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Her Excellency Olive Lembe Kabila, DRC first lady (third from left).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Madame Olive Lembe Kabila, the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo, paid a visit to the IITA-Kalambo Station on 7 July. She was accompanied by her children, the South Kivu Governor,  and top government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Chris Okafor, IITA-Kalambo Officer in Charge,  and Dr Marie Yomeni, SARD-SC Cassava Commodity Specialist, received the visitors  and took them on a tour of the station. This included the fabrication unit, processing units for cassava  and soybean, the product exhibition center, greenhouse, e-library,  and laboratories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The First Lady showed her keen interest in the facilities which were established because of the pressing need for improved agroprocessing technologies  and agroprocessed foods in DRC. During the tour, she was briefed about the cost of the agroprocessing equipment, how cassava  and soybean processing technologies would be extended to farmers  and agroprocessors, the use of crop diversification to minimize farmers\u2019 risks, soil  and plant analyses,  and fertilizer application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The First Lady inquired about how the dissemination of improved technologies was taking care of women\u2019s needs. She was assured that IITA had the capacity  and technologies to address the issues she raised  and was willing to support  and collaborate with her initiatives, especially in North Kivu  and Katanga provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In her parting words, she wrote in the visitors\u2019 book <em>&#8220;Je suis impressionn\u00e9e par la qualit\u00e9 de cet Institut avec tout son personnel. Ceci dit l\u00e0 o\u00f9 sont les humains, il y aura toujours \u00e9volution de la science\u2026\u2026\u2026&#8230; Merci pour cet accueil aussi chaleureux.&#8221;<\/em> &#8220;I am impressed by the quality of this Institution  and its staff\u2026 meaning that where human beings are, evolution of science always occurs. Thank you for your warm welcome.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For more details, please contact: Andrea Gros, <a>a.gros@cgiar.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u00c0 propos de l'IITA<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/\">www.iita.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (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. IITA is a non-profit 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. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Madame Olive Lembe Kabila, the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo, paid a visit to the IITA-Kalambo Station on 7 July. She was accompanied by her children, the South Kivu Governor, and top government officials&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"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":[],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[150],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[192],"class_list":["post-13163","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","hentry","location-congo","item-year-192"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Agro-processing facilities at IITA Kalambo excite First Lady of DR Congo - 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\/agro-processing-facilities-at-iita-kalambo-excite-first-lady-of-dr-congo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Agro-processing facilities at IITA Kalambo excite First Lady of DR Congo - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Madame Olive Lembe Kabila, the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo, paid a visit to the IITA-Kalambo Station on 7 July. 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