{"id":16747,"date":"2026-06-20T12:52:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/iita-supports-africas-first-ever-postharvest-loss-congress\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:51:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:51:28","slug":"iita-supports-africas-first-ever-postharvest-loss-congress","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/iita-supports-africas-first-ever-postharvest-loss-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"IITA supports Africa\u2019s first ever postharvest loss congress"},"content":{"rendered":"
IITA was among the major sponsors and partners of\u00a0first All Africa Postharvest Congress & Exhibition<\/a>. The Congress resonated well with one of IITA\u2019s key areas of focus\u2013reducing postharvest losses.<\/h5>\n
\u201cIITA\u2019s vision is to reduce hunger, poverty, and malnutrition by, among others, increasing yields of major staple food crops such as cassava, yam, maize, banana and plantain, soybean, and cowpea by 60% and increasing the average farm income by half. However, we cannot achieve this if we do not tackle postharvest loss\u201c<\/blockquote>\nPostharvest losses render all our attempts to increase production a waste of effort and resources,\u201d said\u00a0Ranajit Bandyopadhyay<\/a>, speaking at the official opening of the Congress on behalf of IITA\u2019s Director General,\u00a0Nteranya Sanginga<\/a>.\n
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\"Picture<\/a><\/dt>\n \t
Ranajit Bandyopadhyay during opening session<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
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\"Picture<\/a><\/dt>\n \t
CS kenya agric ministry during opening session<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\nThe Congress was organized by the\u00a0World Food Preservation Center<\/a>\u00ae LLC in conjunction with the University of Nairobi and a consortium of universities and a research and development institution in Africa. With the theme: \u201cReducing Postharvest Food Losses: Sustainable Solutions for Africa\u201d, it brought together over 600 stakeholders in the food supply chain including researchers, policy makers, development partners, farmers, and the private sector.\n\nRanajit was also a keynote speaker during a parallel session on Aflatoxin management, food safety and nutrition.\n\nIITA in collaboration with partners also organized a\u00a0three-hour symposium<\/a>\u00a0looking at efforts across the continent to reduce aflatoxin contamination and its impact on food security, health, and trade. IITA was also among the 60 exhibitors at the Congress to showcase its technologies and efforts to reduce postharvest losses. These included the effective and affordable biocontrol product for aflatoxin control, Aflasafe. The Institute also demonstrated technologies to reduce postharvest loss in cassava through processing into stable products with increased shelf life such as flour and garri by coating the roots with wax.\n\nWhile normal cassava roots go bad in three days, coating with wax increases the shelf life to 14 days allowing for transportation to distant markets. The technology is being piloted in Uganda for the urban market where consumers were willing to pay the extra premium for the extra days of shelf life. The wax-coated cassava roots are being sold in supermarkets.\n\n \n

Congress declared a major success!<\/h2>\nThe participants of this inaugural conference declared it a success but asked organizers to ensure it was not another talk-show and to follow up on recommendations made.\n\nThe other suggestion was that it should not be a one-off event but should take place every two to three years and the venue rotated around different African countries.\n\nIITA\u2019s participation in the event was ably led by\u00a0Charity Mutegi<\/a>, IITA\u2019s Aflasafe Coordinator in East Africa and a member of the Congress\u2019 Local Organizing Committee. She was assisted by Jane Kamau and\u00a0Njeri Okono<\/a>, both from IITA\u2019s Aflasafe Technology Transfer and Commercialization (ATTC) Project, as well as by\u00a0Catherine Njuguna<\/a>\u00a0from IITA Communication and the IITA Aflasafe team based at KALRO Katumani.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IITA was among the major sponsors and partners of first All Africa Postharvest Congress & 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