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Plateau State delegation explores deeper agricultural collaboration with IITA
March 18, 2026
The Plateau State delegation led by Dr Haggai Gutap, Technical Adviser to the Plateau State Government, warmly welcomed by IITA Deputy Director General, Corporate Services, Hilde Koper-Limbourg and other IITA staff.
The Plateau State delegation led by Dr Haggai Gutap, Technical Adviser to the Plateau State Government, warmly welcomed by IITA Deputy Director General, Corporate Services, Hilde Koper-Limbourg and other IITA staff.
The Plateau State Government has taken a strategic step toward vitalizing its agricultural sector with a two-day working visit to IITA–CGIAR on 2–3 March. The seven-member delegation, led by the Technical Adviser to the State Government, Dr Haggai Gutap, explored cutting-edge agricultural innovations to boost productivity across the stat The mission focused on strengthening partnerships for large-scale agricultural transformation across key value chains, including potato, cassava, and maize, while also exploring collaboration in soil health, seed systems, plant diagnostics, and youth agribusiness development. The delegation included representatives from the Plateau State Potato Value Chain initiative, the National Agricultural Seed Council, the Plateau-CARES project, and academia, including Julius Bulus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
The delegation after being briefed on IITA’s works and innovations in plant health diagnostics and phytosanitory measures at the Germplasm Health/Virology and Plant Health laboratory.
The delegation after being briefed on IITA’s works and innovations in plant health diagnostics and phytosanitory measures at the Germplasm Health/Virology and Plant Health laboratory.
Welcoming the team, IITA’s Deputy Director General, Corporate Services, Hilde Koper-Limbourg, highlighted the institute’s nearly six decades of advancing resilient farming systems through science-based innovations that have improved agricultural productivity across Africa and beyond. During the visit, discussions centered on how Plateau State can leverage IITA’s proven technologies to address persistent challenges faced by farmers, including low yields, soil degradation, disease infestations, and the widespread seed recycling, which reduces productivity. Delegates expressed strong interest in IITA’s soil testing services, which guide farmers on appropriate fertilizer application based on soil conditions. Strengthening seed systems was also identified as a priority, particularly the introduction of improved, high-yielding varieties adapted to the state’s agroecological conditions. Another key area of engagement was plant health diagnostics and germplasm management, which helps detect and prevent the spread of seed-borne pests and diseases. These tools are increasingly important as climate change contributes to the emergence and spread of new crop threats, particularly in potato production.
The Plateau delegation with the IITA Youth Agripreneurs.
The Plateau delegation with the IITA Youth Agripreneurs.
Highlighting the state’s agricultural potential, Gutap noted that Plateau State accounts for most of the Nigeria’s potato production. “About 95% of potatoes are grown on the Plateau. Meanwhile, we on the Plateau don’t say Irish potato—we say Plateau potato,” he said. “Current yields average four to seven tons per hectare, but with improved technologies and best practices, yields could potentially reach 70 to 80 tons per hectare.”

Plateau seeks IYA’s support for youth engagement in agriculture

At the IITA Youth in Agribusiness (IYA) Unit, Gutap commended the institute’s agribusiness park model, which provides young entrepreneurs with hands-on training and access to modern production facilities. He revealed that the Plateau State Government would adopt this model and aggregate its moribund facilities to serve agricultural training and agribusiness centers. “It’s heartwarming that some of these facilities can be revived for such a purpose,” he said. “We are highly interested in engaging our youth in agriculture,” Gutap said, noting that capacity building, technology transfer, and entrepreneurship support could help position young people to pursue profitable agribusiness opportunities. Members of the delegation also highlighted the potential impact of youth-focused agricultural programs in addressing unemployment and reducing risky livelihood options such as illegal or artisanal mining, which has contributed to environmental degradation in parts of the state. In response, IYA’s Partnership and Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Adetola Adenmosun, reaffirmed the unit’s readiness to collaborate with Plateau State to strengthen youth participation in agriculture. She noted that one of IYA’s programs supported by the Mastercard Foundation is expected to expand to the state following earlier scoping engagements. The delegation also toured IYA’s screenhouses, where various vegetables are cultivated, gaining firsthand insight into the practical training environment designed to prepare young agripreneurs for modern agriculture. The delegation toured several IITA facilities, including laboratories and training centers, gaining firsthand insight into technologies such as tissue culture and innovative seed multiplication systems. Discussions around the potato value chain were particularly significant, as the Plateau State Government is currently establishing a tissue culture laboratory to strengthen seed production and improve crop performance. The visit concluded with both parties agreeing to establish a technical working group to identify priority interventions and develop a coordinated plan for collaboration and implementation. Proposed areas of cooperation include soil health mapping, improved seed dissemination, plant disease diagnostics, capacity building, and youth agribusiness programs. Delegates expressed optimism that the partnership will help scale research innovations from laboratories to farmers’ fields. By aligning scientific expertise with local agricultural priorities, Plateau State and IITA aim to strengthen agricultural value chains—from seed and soil management to training, agribusiness development, and market access—ultimately improving livelihoods and food security in the state. Contributed by Folake Oduntan and Babatunde Ajaja

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Olaosebikan, Olamide

Olamide Deborah Nwanze is a Senior Research Associate specializing in gender mainstreaming research to inform participatory and inclusive breeding, variety development, and seed systems policies regarding root, tuber, and banana (RTB) crops in the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture Headquarters, Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Ibadan and holds an MSc and B. Agric in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development. Olamide is a fellow of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development – Gender Responsive Agricultural Systems Policy (AWARD-GRASP) and the Gender Responsive Researchers Equipped for Agricultural Transformation (GREAT). She seeks to apply her gender-mainstreaming learnings, gender-responsive research, and policy development, and review expertise to facilitate women, youth, children, and vulnerable social group’s access to and adoption of agricultural Innovations that guarantee food, nutrition, income, and livelihood security in Africa. Her current roles include mentoring research fellows, development of guides and training manuals, implementation and adaptation of gender frameworks and tools, value chain actors’ engagement as citizen science partners, policy review and redesign, data management, and analysis. Her current research explores mixed methods and participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to capture and highlight gender dynamics, needs, preferences, and challenges stakeholders face within the agricultural livelihood value chain to prioritize gender-inclusive strategies in breeding programs, policy design, and implementation.

At IITA, she contributes to the implementation of the CGIAR Accelerated Breeding Initiative and Genetic Innovation Programs; participatory and gender research within the NextGen Cassava, HarvestPlus, RTBFoods, and Tricot-ClimMob 1000Farms Projects; and gender knowledge communication via the G-LENS webinar series, video documentary, policy briefs, publications, and blogs.

 

Recent publications

de Sousa, K., van Etten, J., Manners, R. Bello, A., Teeken, B., Olaosebikan, O., et al. 2024. The tricot approach: an agile framework for decentralized on-farm testing supported by citizen science. A retrospective. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 44, 8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-023-00937-1

Madu, T., Onwuka, S., Nwafor, S., Onyemauwa, N., Ejechi, M., Ofoeze, M., Ukeje, B., Eluagu, C., Olaosebikan, O., Okoye, B., 2024. Gender-Inclusive Consumer Studies Improve Cassava Breeding in Nigeria in: Frontiers in Sociology, volume 9, number: 1224504, doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1224504

Olaosebikan, O.; Bello, A.; Utoblo, O.; Okoye, B.; Olutegbe, N.; Garner, E.; Teeken, B.; Bryan, E.; Forsythe, L.; Cole, S.; Madu, T. 2023.  Stressors and Resilience within the Cassava Value Chain in Nigeria: Preferred Cassava Variety Traits and Response Strategies of Men and Women to Inform Breeding. Sustainability 15, 7837. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107837

Okoye, B., Ofoeze, M., Ejechi, M., Onwuka, S., Nwafor, S., Onyemauwa, N., Ukeje, B., Eluagu, C., Obidiegwu, J.*, Olaosebikan, O., Madu, T.* 2023. Prioritizing preferred traits in the yam value chain in Nigeria: a gender situation analysis in: Frontiers in Sociology, volume 8, number: 1232626, pages 1 – 9, ISSN 2297-7775, 2023. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1232626/full

Olaosebikan, O., Bello, A. A., de Sousa, K., Ndjouenkeu, R., Adesokan, M., Alamu, E. O., Agbona, A., van Etten, J., Kegah, F. N.*, Dufour, D., Bouniol, A., Teeken, B. 2023. Consumer acceptability of cassava gari-eba food products across cultural and environmental settings using the triadic comparison of technologies approach (tricot) in: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture,

Teeken, B., Olaosebikan, O., Bello, A. A., Madu, T.*, Cole, S. M. 2023. Qualitative assessment on the positionality and preferences of dyads in relation to cassava-related activities: working with tricot trial citizen scientists https://hdl.handle.net/10568/138326 Type: Manual

Bouniol, A., Ceballos, H., Bello, A. A., Teeken, B., Olaosebikan, O., Owoade, D., Agbona, A., Fotso Kuate, A., Madu, T.*, Okoye, B.*, Ofoeze, M.*, Nwafor, S.*, Onyemauwa, N.*, Adinsi, L.*, Forsythe, L., Dufour, D. 2023. Varietal impact on women’s labour, workload and related drudgery in processing root, tuber and banana crops: focus on cassava in sub-Saharan Africa in: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, pages 1 – 25, ISSN 0022-5142,

Bello, A. A., Agbona, A., Olaosebikan, O., Edughaen, G., Dufour, D., Bouniol, A., Iluebbey, P., Ndjouenkeu, R.*, Rabbi, I. Y., Teeken, B. 2023. Genetic and environmental effects on processing productivity and food product yield: drudgery of women’s work in: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, pages 1 – 32, ISSN 0022-5142, 5

Cavicchioli, M., Zimbiti, T., Teeken, B., Nwanze, D.O., Liani, M., Parkes, E. & Bello, A. 2023. IITA-Gender Responsive Breeding Training Report. Genetic Resources Center, IITA-HQ, Ibadan, 21-23 September, 2022. Ibadan, Nigeria: IITA, (34 p.).https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131368

Agbona, A. Peteti P., Teeken B., Olaosebikan O. Bello, A. A., Parkes, E., Rabbi, I. Y., Mueller, L., Egesi, C., Kulakow, P. 2022. Data Management in Multi-disciplinary African RTB Crop Breeding Programs. In: Williamson, H.F., Leonelli, S. (eds) Towards Responsible Plant Data Linkage: Data Challenges for Agricultural Research and Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13276-6_5

Lora Forsythe, Pricilla Marimo, Sarah Mayanja, Olamide D. Olaosebikan, Esme Stuart, Bela Teeken, Benjamin Okoye, Tessy Madu, (2021). Cross-product Gender Analysis of RTBfoods Step 2 Gendered Food Mapping on RTB Products. Understanding the Drivers of Trait Preferences and the Development of Multi-user RTB Product Profiles, WP1. London, UK: RTBfoods Field Scientific Report, 30 p.

Teeken, B., Garner, E., Agbona, A., Balogun, I., Olaosebikan, O., Bello, A., Madu, T., Okoye, B., Egesi, C., Kulakow, P. and Tufan, H.A. 2021. Beyond “Women’s Traits”: Exploring How Gender, Social Difference, and Household Characteristics Influence Trait Preferences. Frontiers Sustainable Food Systems 5:740926. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.740926

Teeken, B., Agbona, A., Bello, A., Olaosebikan, O., Alamu, E., Adesokan, M., Awoyale, W., Madu, T., Okoye, B., Chijioke, U., Owoade, D., Okoro, M., Bouniol, A., Dufour, D., Hershey, C., Rabbi, I., Maziya‐Dixon, B., Egesi, C., Tufan, H. and Kulakow, P. (020. Understanding cassava varietal preferences through pairwise ranking of gari‐eba and fufu prepared by local farmer–processors. Int J Food Sci Technol. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.14862

Bela Teeken, Olamide Olaosebikan, Ireti Balogun, Benjamin Okoye, Tessy Madu, Steven Cole, Abolore Bello, Elizabeth Parkes. (2020). Piloting the G+ customer and product profile tools for gender-responsive cassava breeding in Nigeria. Nigeria: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/13000