{"id":18607,"date":"2026-06-20T13:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T13:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/climate-resilient-food-systems-take-center-stage-as-iita-experts-convene-in-sierra-leone\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:43:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:43:54","slug":"climate-resilient-food-systems-take-center-stage-as-iita-experts-convene-in-sierra-leone","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/climate-resilient-food-systems-take-center-stage-as-iita-experts-convene-in-sierra-leone\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate-resilient food systems take center stage as IITA experts convene in Sierra Leone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sierra<\/a>
Sierra Leone Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Henry Musa Kpaka during his goodwill remarks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nScientists, professionals, and key stakeholders from the West African and Sahel Hub (WASH) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture have gathered in Freetown for the 2026 edition of their annual retreat, placing climate-resilient food systems at the forefront of discussions.\n\nTaking place from 23 to 27 March 2026, the retreat aims to review progress, strengthen regional collaboration, and define strategic priorities to enhance agricultural productivity and resource mobilisation in the face of climate change.\n

Driving innovation and regional collaboration<\/h3>\nIn his opening remarks, Professor Michael Abberton, Director of the IITA West African Hub, encouraged participants to explore opportunities around IITA\u2019s impact bundles across countries in the WASH sub-region. He emphasized the importance of aligning research and partnerships to accelerate delivery and impact.\n\n
\"IITA<\/a>
IITA scientists from West Africa and the Sahel with partners during the retreat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nWelcoming participants, Dr Alfred Dixon, IITA Country Representative for Sierra Leone, described the retreat as both timely and strategic, noting that it coincides with Sierra Leone\u2019s national focus on accelerated implementation.\n\n\u201cThis gathering is more than a meeting\u2014it is a platform for action, research alignment, strategic collaboration, and innovation toward sustainable food systems across West Africa and the Sahel,\u201d he said.\n

Strengthening partnerships for impact<\/h3>\nAdditional goodwill messages were delivered by Dr Ibnou Dieng, Deputy Director General for Partnerships for Delivery and Scaling; Tahirou Abdoulaye; and Bernard Vanlauwe, Deputy Director General for Research for Development, all of IITA.\n\nLocal partners also expressed strong support for the initiative. Yatta Samah, President of the National Federation of Farmers of Sierra Leone, and Abdul Rahman Conteh, Director General of the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute, welcomed participants and highlighted the importance of collaboration between farmers, research institutions, and development partners.\n

Government commitment to climate-resilient agriculture<\/h3>\nDelivering the keynote address, Henry Musa Kpaka, Sierra Leone\u2019s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, reaffirmed the government\u2019s commitment to the Feed Salone strategy and to strengthening partnerships with IITA and other stakeholders.\n\nHe highlighted the country\u2019s vulnerability to climate change, noting challenges including limited irrigation infrastructure, reliance on unpredictable rainfall, and rising pest threats.\n\n\u201cWith shared responsibility and collaboration with key partners like IITA, Sierra Leone is poised to achieve its goals under the Feed Salone program,\u201d he said.\n\nDr Kpaka further expressed optimism that hosting the retreat would catalyze innovative solutions:\n\n\u201cWe hope this retreat will crystallize cutting-edge research innovations capable of building climate-resilient agricultural systems aligned with national and regional priorities.\u201d\n

Looking ahead<\/h3>\nThe retreat is expected to conclude on 27 March 2026 with a clear and actionable roadmap for the WASH\u2019s activities for 2026\u20132027, reinforcing IITA\u2019s commitment to advancing resilient and sustainable food systems across Africa.\n\nContributed by Atayi Babs","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists, professionals, and key stakeholders from the West African and Sahel Hub (WASH) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture have gathered in Freetown for the 2026<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":18608,"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":[115],"location":[25],"news-type":[],"hub":[],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[204],"class_list":["post-18607","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","program-resilience-and-climate-adaptation-rca","location-sierra-leone","item-year-204"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/18607","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\/18607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19191,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-item\/18607\/revisions\/19191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18607"},{"taxonomy":"science-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/science-area?post=18607"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=18607"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=18607"},{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=18607"},{"taxonomy":"hub","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub?post=18607"},{"taxonomy":"crop","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop?post=18607"},{"taxonomy":"impact-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-areas?post=18607"},{"taxonomy":"item-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/item-year?post=18607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}