{"id":17667,"date":"2026-06-20T12:58:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/reviving-iita-onne-station\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:59:25","slug":"reviving-iita-onne-station","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/reviving-iita-onne-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviving IITA Onne station"},"content":{"rendered":"Discussions about IITA\u2019s plan to revitalize its plantain breeding in the rainforest station in Onne, south Nigeria, was the center of a presentation delivered by\u00a0Rony Swennen<\/u><\/a>, IITA banana Breeder, in Port Harcourt. Swennen disclosed this plan during his visit to the University of Port Harcourt for the first public lecture at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Development. The lecture was entitled \u201cThe contribution of IITA plantain and cooking banana hybrids for food security in<\/em>\u00a0Africa<\/em>\u201d and was presented to staff and students of the University on 18 November.\n
\n\n\"Picture<\/a>\n

Courtesy Visit on UNIPORT Vice Chancellor by Rony. From left to right: Prof N.E.S. Lale, VC, UNIPORT; Prof Rony Swennen, IITA Scientist; Dr G.E. Omokhua, Director, IARD.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nFrom 1976, IITA had operated at Onne \u2013one of the major banana\/plantain producing regions in West Africa. At the time, Swennen pioneered research and breeding programs that led to the development and distribution of improved, high yielding and\u00a0black Sigatoka<\/u><\/a>\u00a0resistant plantain varieties to many countries across sub-Saharan Africa. These efforts significantly contributed to food security in the region and received international recognitions and awards, including the International King Baudouin Award of\u00a0CGIAR<\/u><\/a>.\n\nThese research outcomes were, however, halted in 2005 due to the move of the plantain breeding program to Cameroon and Ibadan, Nigeria. IITA realizes that Onne is unique for plantain breeding as seed production there is superior than in any other location.\n\nIITA now plans to revive the station by establishing a center of excellence for banana breeding research and also train young researchers as well as recruit more youth from the south-south region into the IITA Agripreneur scheme that is also planned to be implemented at the station.\n\nSwennen was received by Ndowa Lale, Vice Chancellor, UNIPORT. During the lecture, Swennen spoke extensively about IITA\u2019s banana\/plantain breeding programs in recent times, and\nalso highlighted steps being undertaken by management to ensure that the Onne station is fully operational by 2016.\n\nThis step is also part of efforts to implement the terms of the collaborative agreement with the University signed since February 2013.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discussions about IITA\u2019s plan to revitalize its plantain breeding in the rainforest station in Onne, south Nigeria.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17668,"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":[2375],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[69],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[194],"class_list":["post-17667","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bulletin-no-2305plantain","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","crop-plantain","item-year-194"],"yoast_head":"\nReviving IITA Onne station - 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