One morning in April 2017, in the middle of what is referred to in the country as agriculture season B, which starts in March and ends in April, farmers in Rwanda woke up to a strange phenomenon in their maize plots. The leaves of their barely knee high crop were completely tattered, as if hit by a hailstorm.

15 July 2018, Mbita Point, Kenya: icipe has honoured the Centre's former Director General, Dr Hans Rudolph Herren, for his enduring commitment to supporting the Centre's mission; and his vision of the role of science-led development for sustainable, socio-economic transformation in Africa.

Root-knot nematodes, a highly destructive group of soil dwelling worms that infect most, if not all cultivated crops, are probably one of the greatest threats to agriculture in SSA. Therefore, for the region’s food security goals to be achieved, these pests, alongside other nematode species, must be wholly integrated into efforts to improve agricultural productivity. Encouragingly, slow but steady progress made over the past 20 years indicates an optimistic outlook for an otherwise daunting endeavour.

Thought Leadership Column: by the Director General

A key goal of icipe is to ensure that the Centre’s technologies are transferred to as many end users as possible. To achieve this vision, icipe uses a range of strategies, including the media, to create awareness. The effectiveness of these efforts is demonstrated by the impressive story of Jona Mutasa, a Zimbabwean farmer who learnt about the Centre’s Push-Pull through a magazine article, and has now become a prominent trainer, leading to over 2000 farmers adopting the technology.