{"id":13667,"date":"2026-06-20T12:29:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/meet-cgiar-iitas-women-fighting-plant-pests-and-diseases\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:37:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:37:24","slug":"meet-cgiar-iitas-women-fighting-plant-pests-and-diseases","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/meet-cgiar-iitas-women-fighting-plant-pests-and-diseases\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet CGIAR-IITA\u2019s women fighting plant pests and diseases"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"InternationalThe current COVID-19 pandemic is a heart-wrenching example of how viruses can quickly spread from one continent to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way human diseases spread is not any different from how plant pests and diseases spread. Lava Kumar, a virologist and head of the Germplasm Health Unit (GHU) at IITA, says, \u201cHumans are the number one carriers of plant pests.\u201d With no ill intention, people carry plants, flowers, and fruit from one destination to the next, thereby spreading diseases over the whole world. \u201cThat is why it is always wise to carry only certified plants or seed to prevent the spread of diseases,\u201d Kumar further added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Meet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If pests or diseases spread\u2014which is inevitable\u2014there is a team of foot soldiers who work tirelessly to curb the pest or disease. In human medicine, it is doctors; for plants, it is plant health scientists. As the women\u2019s month of March comes to an end, we want to recognize the women scientists who ensure that our food does not succumb to epidemics that result in famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IITA, one of the centres in CGIAR, has a team of 38 plant health scientists dedicated to ensuring the safety of plants under the Institute\u2019s mandate\u2014cassava, banana\/plantain, maize, yam, cowpea, and maize. This is the largest institutional team of plant health scientists in Africa and CGIAR. Of these, eight are women. As we celebrate women\u2019s month (March) and the International Year of Plant Health, 2020, we shine the light on these women who have dedicated their careers to ensuring the well-being of our plants and by extension\u2014our food and nutrition security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May-Guri Saethre<\/a> \u2013 Deputy Director General (DDG) Research for Development
Leena Tripathi<\/a> \u2013 Biotechnologist
Jane Wanza<\/a> \u2013 Agribusiness specialist
Livia Stavolone<\/a> \u2013 Molecular biologist
Kolade Olufisayo<\/a> \u2013 Disease phenotyping specialist
Everlyne Wosula<\/a> \u2013 Postdoctoral fellow
Titilayo Falade<\/a> \u2013 Associate scientist \u2013 pathology
Charity Mutegi<\/a> \u2013 Food Safety Specialist<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The current COVID-19 pandemic is a heart-wrenching example of how viruses can quickly spread from one continent to the next. The way human diseases spread is not any different from how plant pests and diseases spread.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":13668,"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":[548],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[198],"class_list":["post-13667","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-covid-19plant-health","item-year-198"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/13667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/13667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30419,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/13667\/revisions\/30419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=13667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}