Farmers reported increased frost damage in barley (Hordeum vulgare) sown in conservation agriculture in the Mexican Bajío region during the autumn-winter season. To determine whether this effect is real and whether it reduced crop yield under conservation agriculture, we performed two field experiments and gathered observational data from other experiments and farmers’ fields.

Gender and social inclusion efforts in agricultural development are focused on making uptake of agricultural technologies more equitable. Yet research looking at how gender relations influence technology uptake often assumes that men and women within a household make farm management decisions as individuals. Relatively little is understood about the dynamics of agricultural decision-making within dual-adult households where individuals’ management choices are likely influenced by others in the household.

The study evaluated 33 accessions of groundnut in the field, consisting of 23 landraces from Nasarawa communities in Nigeria and 10 inbred lines. Assessment entailed the determination of plant survivorship, yield related parameters and pathological indices while genetic diversity study was undertaken using SSR and RAPD molecular markers. Data analysis was done on the Minitab 17.0 software. Significant variability was noted in all traits except in pod sizes, seed sizes and % infected seeds.

In the tropics, combining food security with biodiversity conservation remains a major challenge. Tropical agroforestry systems are among the most biodiversity friendly and productive land-use systems, and 70% of cocoa is grown by >6 million smallholder farmers living on <2$ per day. In cacao’s main centre of diversification, the western Amazon region, interest is growing to achieve premium prices with the conversion of high-yielding, but mostly bulk-quality cacao to native fine-flavor cacao varieties, culturally important since pre-Columbian times.

Many sub-Saharan farmers rely on agricultural production for home consumption and sell crops to meet their other needs. Farmers’ market intervention enhances economic expansion and helps to improve household food security. In our current study, we strive to explore the determinants of farmers’ decisions and the intensity of market participation in the Sahelian region of Niger, where little has been published, thereby filling the gap in the literature. A double hurdle approach was employed to achieve this objective using a sample collected from 1784 farm households in Niger.

Cowpea is an important and climate-resilient grain legume for human and livestock nutrition worldwide. Its grains represent a valuable source of protein for rural families in Sub-Saharan Africa while its haulms offer nutritious fodder for livestock, especially, in the Sahel regions. Cowpea production, unfortunately, faces

The study investigated the potential of five common tree species in West Africa to bioaccumulate heavy metals in their various plant components over the course of different growth phases and at varying contamination levels (control, double the permissible level and triple the permissible limit). Heavy metals in plant tissues were extracted and analyzed using standard wet chemistry procedures. The results showed metal concentrations in tree tissues to positively and significantly correlate with contamination level, growth stage, and plant component.

While sparse testing methods have been proposed by researchers to improve the efficiency of genomic selection (GS) in breeding programs, there are several factors that can hinder this. In this research, we evaluated four methods (M1–M4) for sparse testing allocation of lines to environments under multi-environmental trails for genomic prediction of unobserved lines.

Work Package Three (WP3) of the Agroecology Initiative (AE-I) aims to enhance the integration of agroecology principles in businesses as a way to facilitate the transition of agrifood systems towards agroecology. To achieve this, WP3 aims to collaborate with selected private sector companies to develop and implement business models (BMs) that support or are compatible with the agroecological transition further. This report outlines the re-engagement activities carried out by the AE-I team in Zimbabwe with the private enterprises between June and August 2023.

Ricinodendron heudelotii (Baill.) Heckel is an important nutraceutical reservoir. Its Sustainable exploitation requires information on its potential distribution in the current context of rapid population growth and climate change threats. This study aimed to map the suitable areas for its domestication and conservation under current and future climate conditions in Benin. Occurrence data were recorded and combined with the environmental layers of two climatic scenarios (optimistic RCP 4.5 and pessimistic RCP 8.5) following the biodiversity modelling approach (biomod2).

In late 2021, a range of experts from around the world came together through GEOBON and the bioDiscovery program of Future Earth to provide expert input to the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework (GBF)—the new strategic framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that will guide interventions to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services for the next 3 decades.

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).