Jobs

Contact

Subscribe

Projects

Explore project dashboard

Banana breeding networks: delivering high-impact products

This project aims to:

  1. Undertake validation of breakthrough variety candidates
  2. Allow the banana program to expand pre-breeding work to develop specific assets needed to transform banana breeding.

Locations:  Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda 

Development of nutritional enhancement genetic materials for cowpea and yam crops, improved nutritional status in West Africa and developing countries

The project aims to develop nutritious selection and value-added cowpea/yam varieties and its cultivation techniques.

Locations:  Nigeria 

Collection, isolation, and characterization of leaf spot disease causal agents in cowpea in Nigeria, focusing on the isolation of Cercospora spp. Isolates.

The project’s goal is to collect representative isolates of Cercospora spp. for Biotalys to develop biocontrol solutions for cowpea farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Locations:  Nigeria 

Projet de Transformation de l’ Agriculture en Repuhlique Democratique du Congo dans Ie cadre du Programme de Developpement Local des 145 territoires (PDL-145T), Premiere annee de Demarrage

The goal of this project is to transform agriculture in the Democratic Republic of Congo to reduce poverty and food imports.

Locations:  Democratic Republic of Congo 

SGP-RTB – Roots Tubers and Bananas Breeding: a consolidated investment

The project’s goal is to improve poverty alleviation, food and nutrition security, and the quality of life for smallholder farmers, processors, and consumers by developing market-preferred, gender-sensitive, and climate-resilient varieties through modernized breeding approaches and collaborative One CGIAR-NARS networks

Locations:   

IITA Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I) for Mozambique

The project aims to enhance food and nutrition security, incomes, and resilience of smallholder farmers in Nampula, Zambézia, and Niassa provinces by increasing access to and adoption of proven agricultural and nutritional innovations.

Locations:  Mozambique 

Climate Action: CGIAR Science Programme 2025 to 2030 (IITA contribution)

The Climate Action Science Programme is one of the science programmes in the CGIAR Research Portfolio 2025 to 2030. It aims to drive science, innovation and collaboration to transform food, land and water systems for a climate-resilient, net-zero and equitable future, advancing research across agri-food systems that benefits 16 million vulnerable small-scale producers and value chain actors across 20 countries. IITA contributes to the programme through its Resilience and Climate Adaptation Programme, with a specific focus on measuring greenhouse gas mitigation strategies, assessing the sequestration potential of regenerative agriculture, and supporting cross-Centre coordination on data sharing.

Locations:  Côte d’ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe 

Enhancing Sustainable Land Management and Climate-Resilient Agri-food Systems in Cote d’Ivoire (LARACI)

LARACI is a five-year Green Climate Fund (GCF) project that strengthens climate resilience and reduces greenhouse gas emissions in Cote d’Ivoire’s agri-food sector. Delivered by CGIAR as the GCF Accredited Entity, with Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and the Fonds Interprofessionnel pour la Recherche et le Conseil Agricoles (FIRCA) as Executing Entities, and IITA and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT as research partners, the project enables farmers, agribusinesses and national institutions to manage climate risks across the rice, cassava and yam value chains in the central regions of N’Zi, Iffou, Moronou, La Me and Gbeke.

Locations:  Côte d’ivoire 

Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL): Technical Assistance for Climate-Smart Agriculture and Farmer-Led Irrigation Development in 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria

This Technical Assistance, delivered by IITA under the World Bank financed ACReSAL project (Federal Government of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Environment), aims to strengthen agro-climatic resilience across semi-arid landscapes of northern Nigeria. The assignment supports communities, government partners and the private sector to combat land degradation, restore landscapes, adopt climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and accelerate Farmer-Led Irrigation Development (FLID), with deliberate emphasis on inclusion of youth and women.

Locations:  Nigeria 

SEMEAR

Project Objectives:

  1. Increase the production and supply of breeders, pre-basic, basic, and certified seeds of common bean, cowpea, groundnut, pigeon pea, sesame, and soybean in the major Feed the Future Zones of Influence (FtF ZOI) and strengthen the national seed systems.
  2. Scale-up and enhance the adoption of improved varieties and best management practices in the FtF ZOI using participatory approaches.
  3. Enhance national policy dialogue on seed and fertilizer supply.

 

Locations:  Mozambique 

Scroll to Top
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