Conclusion

Introduction: Agroforestry plays a vital role in maintaining and developing the resilience and productivity of farms and landscapes. Scientific evidence from the Sahel region suggests that integration of trees and shrubs has the potential to improve temperature and moisture levels whilst providing bio-based fertilizer that contributes to increased yields of annual crops. However, little is known about the factors that influence the diô€€€usion of agroforestry.

We conducted a preliminary value chain actors mapping for major crops grown and livestock kept by smallholder farmers in Mbire and Murehwa districts of Zimbabwe. Accordingly, in this report we mapped value chain actors for 11 crops and livestock commodities: namely, sorghum, cotton, sesame, maize, groundnut, sweet-potato, vegetables (tomato and onion), cattle, goats, poultry, and honey/beekeeping. Except sesame from Mbire, most of the crop and livestock commodities are channeled to the main markets in Harare and Marondera for Murehwa.

The effectiveness of maize seed treatments for management of fall armyworm (FAW) (Spodoptera frugiperda) was evaluated under natural infestation conditions in Zambia in 2019, 2020 and 2022. Two seed treatments were tested: cyantraniliprole (Fortenza® 600 FS) + thiamethoxam (Cruiser® 600 FS) (combination marketed as Fortenza® Duo) and Fortenza® 600 FS.

Africa accounts for about 7% of the world’s total fish production (FAO 2020). Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), a native of Africa, is the third-most farmed fish species in the world (FAO 2020) and is consumed worldwide (Asiedu et al. 2015). Because of market demand and the availability of suitable water bodies, Nigeria and Ghana have enormous potential for tilapia aquaculture, particularly in cages (Njoku et al. 2022).
Cage aquaculture refers to rearing captive fish within a floating enclosure in a water body. Typically, the

This study examined the determinants and impacts of mobile money (MM) usage on maize productivity and poverty likelihood (i.e., the probability of a household falling below the international poverty line at USD 1.9 per capita per day) in the Mbeya Region, Tanzania. The analysis was conducted using the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model on data from a random sample of 1310 households selected from seven districts in the region.

Climate change is resulting in increased frequency of extreme weather events, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) already characterized by highly vulnerable malnourished populations. Unsurprisingly, there are many empirical studies of the linkages between extreme weather events and undernutrition, especially stunting and wasting in early childhood, and several existing reviews of this literature.

Banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) is a destructive disease caused by Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum (Xvm) bacterium that indiscriminately infects all banana varieties grown in East and Central Africa (ECA). In this region, BXW was first reported in 2001 in Uganda and was projected to eliminate >90% of Uganda’s bananas worth US$4 billion if not controlled in less than 10 years. Lack of basic information led to application of control approaches that were based on similarity of BXW symptoms to those of Moko disease of bananas.

Finding out how to scale innovations successfully is high on the agendas of researchers, practitioners and policy makers involved in agricultural development. New approaches and methodologies seek to better address related complexities, but none of them include a systematic perspective on the role of capacity in (partnerships for) scaling innovations. We posit that this has left an important topic insufficiently addressed in relation to partnerships for scaling innovations.

Low-temperature stress (LTS) is among the major abiotic stresses affecting the geographical distribution and productivity of the most important crops. Understanding the genetic basis of photosynthetic variation under cold stress is necessary for developing more climate-resilient barley cultivars. To that end, we investigated the ability of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (FVFM, and FVF0) to respond to changes in the maximum quantum yield of Photosystem II photochemistry as an indicator of photosynthetic energy.

There is growing evidence on the impacts of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) from Asia. The evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where SSNM developments are more recent and where conditions concerning soil fertility and fertilizer use differ importantly from those in Asia, is extremely scarce. We evaluate a SSNM advisory tool that allows extension agents to generate fertilizer recommendations tailored to the specific situation of an individual farmer’s field, using a three-year randomized controlled trial with 792 smallholder farmers in the maize belt of northern Nigeria.

The vast rangelands of Tunisia and Senegal are critical for the livelihoods of pastoral communities, providing grazing land for their herds and other essential resources and ecosystem services. However, these fragile ecosystems face numerous threats, including climate change, land degradation, and encroachment from urban and economic activities.