Taro is an ancient nutritional and medicinal crop woven into the fabric of the socio-economic life of those living in the tropics and sub-tropics. However, West Africa (WA), which has been a major producer of the crop for several decades, is experiencing a significant decline in production as a result of taro leaf blight (TLB), a disease caused by Phytophthora colocasiae Raciborski. A lack of research on taro in WA means that available innovative technologies have not been fully utilized to provide solutions to inherent challenges and enhance the status of the crop.

Black soldier fly frass fertilizer (BSFFF) is increasingly gaining momentum worldwide as organic fertilizer. However, research on its performance on crop production remains largely unknown. Here, we evaluate the comparative performance of BSFFF and commercial organic fertilizer (SAFI) on maize (H513) production. Both fertilizers were applied at the rates of 0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5 t ha-1, and 0, 30, 60, and 100 kg nitrogen (N) ha-1. Mineral fertilizer (urea) was also applied at 0, 30, 60 and 100 kg N ha-1 to establish the N fertilizer equivalence (NFE) of the organic fertilizers.

The degradation of tropical pastures sown with introduced grasses (e.g., Urochloa spp.) has
dramatic environmental and economic consequences in Latin America. Nitrogen (N) limitation to
plant growth contributes to pasture degradation. The introduction of legumes in association with
grasses has been proposed as a strategy to improve N supply via symbiotic N2 fixation, but the fixed
N input and N benefits for associated grasses have hardly been determined in farmers’ pastures.

This Publication is an Abstracts book of the 13th Arab Congress of Plant Protection (13th ACPP), organized by the Arab Society of Plant Protection (ASPP) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries of Tunisia, represented by the National Institute of Agronomic Research of Tunisia (INRAT), held during the period 16-21 October 2022 in Hammamet, Tunisia.

Enset [Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman] is an important food security crop of the Southern Ethiopian highlands. The cultivation of enset is characterised by a wide variety of landraces, suitable to varying agro-ecological conditions and with multiple uses by households. The objective of this paper is to present enset landrace diversity, characteristics and uses in Ethiopia.

This Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) has been prepared to identify the key stakeholders of the Accelerating Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) West Africa Cluster, define information disclosure and stakeholder engagement measures and design a grievance mechanism (GM). The SEP outlines how, when, and ways in which the project team will inform, communicate and consult with stakeholders including vulnerable groups and a mechanism by which people can raise concerns, provide feedback, or make complaints about the project and any activities related to the Project.

Climate change has become a reality that requires mitigation and adaptation of climate change by devising appropriate measures and participatory approaches. Ethiopia is committed to setting policy frameworks and implementation strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change and produce a climate change-resilient society. It is well understood that education and climate change have a reciprocal relationship, and education has a strong power for climate change adaptation and mitigation endeavours.

In 2020 the CGIAR CAS Secretariat is conducting independent reviews of the 12 CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs), including this one of RTB. The reviews will provide information on quality of science and effectiveness in each CRP. This review covers the Phase II years of 2017 through 2019, with a view to identifying lessons for future research modalities.

The biomedical domain has shown that in silico analyses over vast data pools enhances the speed and scale of scientific innovation. This can hold true in agricultural research and guide similar multi-stakeholder action in service of global food security as well (Streich et al. Curr Opin Biotechnol 61:217–225. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2020.01.010, 2020).

This paper presents lessons of a replicable innovative decision support tool to systematize traditional indigenous
knowledge base for local climate monitoring and weather forecasting. The methodological tool, herein called the
traditional indigenous and local knowledge tool (TILKIT), was conceptualized under two training-of-trainers
initiatives on Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in East Africa from March 2016 to December 2021. The aim was to

Climate change-induced heat stress combines two challenges: high day- and nighttime temperatures, and physiological water deficit due to demand-side drought caused by increase in vapor-pressure deficit. It is one of the major factors in low productivity of maize in rainfed stress-prone environments in South Asia, affecting a large population of smallholder farmers who depend on maize for their sustenance and livelihoods.