{"id":13228,"date":"2026-06-20T12:26:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/meeting-of-experts-on-root-crops-starts-today-in-dar-es-salaam-tanzania\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:26:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:26:42","slug":"meeting-of-experts-on-root-crops-starts-today-in-dar-es-salaam-tanzania","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/meeting-of-experts-on-root-crops-starts-today-in-dar-es-salaam-tanzania\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting of experts on root crops starts today in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dar es Salaam, 6 March 2017. Over 300 researchers, development partners, private sector practitioners,  and farmers from all over the world start their week-long meeting, 6 \u2013 10 March, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to discuss advances  and new developments on root crops research  and collaboration in Africa. This is at at <a title=\"Visit the International Society for Root  and Tuber Crops - Africa Branch website\" href=\"http:\/\/istrc-ab.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the 13th Symposium of the International Society for Root  and Tuber Crops &#8211; Africa Branch (ISTRC-AB)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The meeting will be opened by <a title=\"Visit the United Republic of Tanzania: The Vice President's office page\" href=\"http:\/\/www.vpo.go.tz\/the_vice_president\/current.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan, Vice-President of the United Republic of Tanzania<\/a> with the Hon. Dr. Charles John Tizeba (MP), the Minister for Agriculture, Livestock  and Fisheries. The theme of the meeting is \u201cExp anding collaboration  and catalyzing innovation of root crops for accelerating Africa\u2019s economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Root crops such as cassava, sweet potato, potato,  and yams are very important in Tanzania  and elsewhere in Africa &#8211; more than 240 million tons of root crops are produced annually on nearly 23 million hectares of l and. The combined value of yam, cassava, potato,  and sweet potato exceeds all other African staples, including cereal crops (on average 169 million tons of cereals are produced from 108 million ha of l and).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The crops are not only cultivated for food but increasingly they are also becoming industrial crops through processing into high-value products. This in turn has seen a steady increase in the crop\u2019s production across the continent. However, this has stemmed from expansion of l and cultivated to the crop rather than an increase in yields, which are the lowest in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2018Tanzania is indeed honored to be hosting this meeting that brings together experts from all over the world to discuss research  and development on root  and tuber crops. Many challenges faced by these crops include lack of access to  and adoption of improved varieties, poor farming practices including low usage of inputs such as fertilizers among others, lack of organized markets  and poor mechanization,\u201d said Dr Hussein Mansoor, the Director for Research  and Development in the Ministry of Agriculture, ahead of the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he therefore hoped the presentations  and deliberations during the meeting would help the country  and indeed the continent find practical  and sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the smallholder producers of these important crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis meeting brings together the world\u2019s leading researchers on root  and tuber crops to Tanzania. Notable researchers include the 2016 World Food Prize laureates from the International Potato Center, Drs Maria Andrade, Jan Low,  and Robert Mwanga who will be sharing with us their research on orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP). OSFP are rich in beta-carotene (vitamin A)  and therefore have great potential to improve health across Africa,\u201d \u201csaid Prof Lateef Sanni, president of the ISTRC-AB  and from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTogether with yellow-fleshed cassava, these crops show how research can be used to find sustainable solutions to food  and nutrition security across the continent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Root  and tuber crops are versatile staples that can enable Africa to meet its food  and nutrition security as they produce more food per unit area of l and than most crops. However, they also suffer from high postharvest losses \u2013 they spoil very easily  and storage is a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAddressing postharvest losses  and markets cannot be overemphasized in the efforts to boost production of root  and tuber crops in Africa. If not well addressed, then all the work done to increase production through development  and adoption of improved varieties,  and good agronomic practices will not realize the anticipated benefits. This is one of the areas the meeting will focus on including attracting investors,\u201d said Dr Victor Manyong, IITA Director for Eastern Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other areas that the participants will deliberate on are efforts to control the major pests  and diseases of roots  and tubers such as cassava brown streak disease  and cassava mosaic disease;  and sweet potato virus disease  and root rot, which significantly reduced the crop\u2019s production nearly wiping it out from the country. These include breeding resistant varieties  and establishing clean seed systems to reduce the spread of diseases as farmers share infected planting materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The organization of the meeting was led by Tanzania\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock  and Fisheries. Other partners included IITA, CIP, Commission for Science  and Technology (COSTECH)  and Cassava Adding Value for Africa (CAVA) project that is led by the Tanzania Food  and Nutrition Centre (TFNC). Tanzania was selected as the venue of its 13th Symposium at ISTRC-AB\u2019s last meeting in Ghana in October 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About ISTRC-AB<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ISTRC-AB was created in 1978 to stimulate research, production  and utilization of root  and tuber crops along various value chains in Africa. While the Society\u2019s headquarters are at IITA in Ibadan, Nigeria, its Executive Council comprises eminent root  and tuber researchers from national, regional,  and international bodies across Africa. Membership is open to everyone interested in root  and tuber crops, from researchers, business community,  and government officials, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pour plus d'informations :<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kathy Lopez, Head of Communication, IITA. E-mail: <a href=\"mailto:k.lopez@cgiar.org\">k.lopez@cgiar.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Follow live:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/istrcab17?f=tweets&amp;vertical=default&amp;src=hash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#istrcab17<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dar es Salaam, 6 March 2017. Over 300 researchers, development partners, private sector practitioners, and farmers from all over the world start their week-long meeting, 6 \u2013 10 March, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to discuss advances and new developments on root crops research and collaboration in Africa.<\/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":[379],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[27],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[195],"class_list":["post-13228","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","hentry","tag-cassavapotatoroot-and-tuber-cropssweet-potatoyam","location-tanzania","item-year-195"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Meeting of experts on root crops starts today in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - 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\/meeting-of-experts-on-root-crops-starts-today-in-dar-es-salaam-tanzania\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meeting of experts on root crops starts today in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dar es Salaam, 6 March 2017. 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