{"id":17693,"date":"2026-06-20T12:58:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/former-burundi-minister-lauds-iitas-significant-support\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T17:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T17:03:44","slug":"former-burundi-minister-lauds-iitas-significant-support","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/former-burundi-minister-lauds-iitas-significant-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Burundi minister lauds IITA\u2019s significant support"},"content":{"rendered":"To mark the end of her term in office, Hon. Kayitesi Odette, the immediate past Minister of Agriculture in Burundi visited\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IITA<\/a>, and thanked the Institute and staff for their support during her tenure. She also urged the Institute to extend the same gesture to the new minister.\n<div id=\"attachment_27\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_27\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Hon-Kayitesi-visit-to-IITA_new.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Hon-Kayitesi-visit-to-IITA_new.jpg\" alt=\"Hon. Kayitesi (centre) during her visit to IITA-Burundi.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"456\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hon. Kayitesi (centre) during her visit to IITA-Burundi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\nDuring the commendation visit on 25 September, Hon. Kayitesi noted that IITA\u2019s significant contribution to Burundi\u2019s banana seed systems, cassava, integrated pest and natural resource management, and capacity development for staff, students, partners, and especially farmers, has made her proud.\n\nAccording to her, these contributions have transformed the status quo of farmers\u2019 knowledge and practice. \u201cAs an example,\u201d she said \u201cthe banana subsector has become more vibrant and competitive; farmers now use tissue culture materials as part of field rehabilitation initiatives to control\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Banana_Xanthomonas_wilt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Banane\u00a0<em>Xanthomonas<\/em>\u00a0wilt (BXW)<\/a>, thereby stimulating private tissue culture labs to produce and provide more planting materials. This was certainly not the case in the past.\u201d\n\nBanana is an important source of economic and social capital for the farming population in Burundi with an annual production estimated at 1.85 million tons on average. It is cultivated by more than 90% of the farming households in nearly all agroecological zones and it has high agronomic potential and multi-purpose uses.\n\nWith the emergence of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ecoport.org\/ep?SearchType=slideshowView&amp;slideshowId=168&amp;checkRequired=Y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BXW<\/a>, banana production dropped significantly, rendering farmers without alternative income sources to cater for school fees and health care, especially affecting the food security of smallholders who rely on banana for their livelihoods.\n\nHon. Kayitesi therefore commended IITA and partners for enhancing farmers\u2019 capacity and introducing innovative practices to sustainably\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/c3project.iita.org\/BXWIndex.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">manage BXW<\/a>.\n\nOn behalf of IITA and staff,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/njukwe-emmanuel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Emmanuel Njukwe<\/a>, IITA Burundi country representative, received Hon. Kayitesi during her visit and pledged IITA\u2019s continual support to the Burundi government. He also reiterated the Institute\u2019s commitment to work closely with farmers to combat major diseases and in achieving food security.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To mark the end of her term in office, Hon. Kayitesi Odette, the immediate past Minister of Agriculture in Burundi visited IITA, and thanked the Institute and staff for their support during her tenure.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17694,"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":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[194],"class_list":["post-17693","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","item-year-194"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Burundi minister lauds IITA\u2019s significant support - 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\/former-burundi-minister-lauds-iitas-significant-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Burundi minister lauds IITA\u2019s significant support - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To mark the end of her term in office, Hon. 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