Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) is a vital legume crop for Zambia’s urban and rural households. The crop is an important legume used as human and animal food and as a component of the agricultural production system, which improves the fertility of many depleted soils because of its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen. Government through the ministries of health and agriculture recommend its’ use. Despite the importance of cowpea in the nation, there is limited information on the crop along with its’ value chain components.

Aquaculture plays an increasingly important role in meeting the rising global demand for fish fuelled by economic and demographic growth. However, in many middle-income countries, aquaculture is constrained by rising labour costs, limited input supply, environmental concerns, and infectious diseases. In this paper, we developed a multi-species, multi-sector equilibrium model and applied it to the fishery sector of Egypt, a leading aquaculture producer in Africa, to examine these barriers.

Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) are found in citrus plantations throughout the world, but they are considered to be the most problematic pest in Morocco. Citrus fruit quality and yield have been adversely affected by PPNs. Due to data unavailability of nematodes associated with citrus, a detailed survey was conducted in the main citrus-growing regions of Morocco during 2020–2021 to assess the occurrence, distribution, and diversity of PPNs associated with rhizospheres of citrus trees. In addition, some soil properties have also been assessed for their impact on soil properties.

Aflatoxin contamination of staple crops by Aspergillus flavus and closely related fungi is common across the Sahel region of Africa. Aflatoxins in maize, groundnut, and sorghum collected at harvest or from farmers’ stores within two weeks of harvest from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger were quantified. Thereafter, aflatoxin exposure values were assessed using per capita consumption rates of those crops. Mean aflatoxin concentrations in maize were high, 128, 517, and 659 µg/kg in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, respectively.

One of the crucial public health problems today is the emerging and re-emerging of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria coupled with a decline in the development of new antimicrobials. Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) is classified among the MDR pathogens of international concern. To predict their MDR potentials, 23 assembled genomes of NTS from live cattle (n = 1), beef carcass (n = 19), butchers’ hands (n = 1) and beef processing environments (n = 2) isolated from 830 wet swabs at the Yaounde abattoir between December 2014 and November 2015 were explored using whole-genome sequencing.

Reducing maize postharvest storage losses is a challenge for millions of smallholder farmers in Mexico. A previous study documented the effects of storage technologies on stored grain losses.

The OMICAS alliance is part of the Colombian government’s Scientific Ecosystem, established between 2017-2018 to promote world-class research, technological advancement and improved competency of higher education across the nation. Since the program’s kick-off, OMICAS has focused on consolidating and validating a multi-scale, multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary strategy and infrastructure to advance discoveries in plant science and the development of new technological solutions for improving agricultural productivity and sustainability.

Synchronizing nitrogen (N) fertilization with planting date (PD) could enhance resource use efficiency and profitability of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) production in Thailand. The objective of the study was to assess upland rice responses to four N fertilization rates (NFRs) and three planting dates. Field experiments were conducted during two growing seasons under four NFRs, no N applied (N0), 30 (N30), 60 (N60), and 90 kg N ha−1 (N90), and NFR were applied at the initiation of tillering and panicle emergence stages.

Zinc deficiency affects one third of the population worldwide, and vitamin A deficiency is a prevalent public health issue in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-Asia, including Nepal. Crop biofortification is the sustainable solution to these health—related problems, thus we conducted two different field trials in an alpha lattice design to identify zinc and provitamin A biofortified maize genotypes consistent and competitive in performance over the contrasting seasons (Season 1: 18 February to 6 July 2020 and Season 2: 31 August to 1 February, 2020/21).

Owing to climate change impacts, waterlogging is a serious abiotic stress that affects crops, resulting in stunted growth and loss of productivity. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Grantz) is usually grown in areas that experience high amounts of rainfall; however, little research has been done on the waterlogging tolerance mechanism of this species. Therefore, we investigated the physiological responses of cassava plants to waterlogging stress and analyzed global gene transcription responses in the leaves and roots of waterlogged cassava plants.

The recent invasion, rapid spread, and widescale destruction of the maize crop by the fall armyworm (FAW; Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith)) is likely to worsen the food insecurity situation in Africa. In the present study, a set of 424 maize lines were screened for their responses to FAW under artificial infestation to dissect the genetic basis of resistance. All lines were evaluated for two seasons under screen houses and genotyped with the DArTseq platform.