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Books and Book Chapters: Recent submissions
Now showing items 441-460 of 983
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Approaches to reinforce crop productivity under rainfed conditions in Subhumid environments in SubSaharan Africa
(Springer, 2015)Smallholder farming in much of Sub-Saharan Africa is rain-fed and thus exposed to rainfall variability. Among the climate variables, rainfall is projected to decline and have an overriding effect on crop productivity. With little opportunity for supplementary irrigation for the majority of farmers, a plausible strategy to maintain crop production under water-limited conditions includes balanced nutrient management for enhancing efficiency of use of limited soil water. Co-application of judicious ... -
Banana systems in the humid highlands of SubSaharan Africa: enhancing resilence and productivity
(Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, 2013) -
Cassava: mentor on a mission why cassava and capacity building are closely coupled
(Generation Challenge Program, 2014-03) -
Soil carbon: a critical natural resource widescale goals, urgent actions
(Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, 2015)Across the world, soil organic carbon (SOC) is decreasing due to changes in land use such as the conversion of natural systems to food or bioenergy production systems. The losses of SOC have impacted crop productivity and other ecosystem services adversely. One of the grand challenges for society is to manage soil carbon stocks to optimize the mix of five essential services – provisioning of food, water and energy; maintaining biodiversity; and regulating climate. Scientific research has helped ... -
Pathogen resistant genetically engineered crops in Africa
(Studium Press LLC, 2015)Diseases caused by viral, fungal and bacterial pathogens pose great threat to food security in Africa. Use of disease resistant cultivars is among the most preferred tactic for disease control by smallholder farmers in Africa, who cannot afford cost intensive chemical inputs or labor intensive crop management practices. A number of disease resistant staple crop cultivars have been developed through transfer of resistance genes from cultivars and other cross compatible relatives through conventional ... -
Croplivestock interactions in smallholder farming systems and their implications for the adoption of conservation agriculture in Kenya
(International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, 2015) -
Regional impact of climate change: Africa
(John Wiley & Sons, 2011) -
Hybrid distribution to farmers adoption and challenges
(Taylor and Francis, 2011-01) -
Integrated systems research in nutrition-sensitive landscapes: A theoretical methodological framework
(Routledge, 2017)Sustainable intensification has recently been developed and adopted as a key concept and driver for research and policy in sustainable agriculture. It includes ecological, economic and social dimensions, where food and nutrition security, gender and equity are crucial components. This book describes different aspects of systems research in agriculture in its broadest sense, where the focus is moved from farming systems to livelihoods systems. -
Challenges and opportunities for macropropagation technology for Musa spp. among smallholder farmers and small-and medium-scale enterprises
(Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International, 2013)Lack or shortage of healthy and improved planting material is a major constraint to the expansion of banana and plantain production. The situation is made worse by the lack of formal systems for producing and distributing quality planting material, thereby forcing farmers to depend on natural regeneration of plants for their supply. This is usually a very slow process, and produces small amounts of planting material that are likely to be contaminated with soil-borne pathogens such as nematodes. ... -
Intensive cereal-legume–livestock systems in West African dry Savannas.
(International Center for Tropical Agriculture, 2012)The dry savannas of West Africa are undergoing rapid transformation of agricultural practices owing to the rapid human and livestock population growth, increase in agricultural intensification and accelerated climate change which has increased the incidence and severity of diseases, pests and drought. The major constraints to agricultural production in the savanna include poor soil fertility, pests and diseases of crops and livestock, parasitic weeds such as Striga hermonthica, drought, and ... -
Slash-and-burn agriculture, effects of
(Elsevier, 2013-03-07) -
Crop–livestock–tree integration in Uganda: the case of Mukono–Wakiso innovation platform
(Earthscan, Routledge, 2016) -
Adapting a yam seed technique to meet farmers’ criteria
(2016)Seed yam is costly, and can carry pests and diseases. To reduce costs and to manage seed health, in the 1970s, the Yam Minisett Technique (YMT) was developed, which involved cutting yams into small pieces to be used as seed. Few farmers adopted the technique, in part because of the high labor requirements of making a nursery to sprout the pieces of tuber. In 1992, a DFID-funded project introduced fungicide and insecticide treatment to improve the survival of yam minisetts. The Adapted Yam Minisett ... -
The sustainability of the world’s soils
(2016)Agriculture and food production are predominantly soil-based, with only marginal portions based on hydroponics or the use of only biomass as a substrate. In this chapter, the factors aff ecting sustainable soil use will be elaborated. This is defi ned as factors that: • maintain or improve soil biological, chemical, and physical properties; • maintain an input:output (harvest) ratio greater than one for all macronutrients; • use nutrient inputs, preferably but not exclusively from renewable rather ... -
The sawflies of Namibia and western South Africa (Symphyta, Hymenoptera).
(Belgian National Focal Point, 2015-10-15)This monograph includes a history of the study of the sawflies of the Afrotropical Region; recommended collecting methods; a general description of the life cycle of sawflies; and extensive references to Afrotropical sawflies. A total of 55 species of Symphyta have been reported from the study area, which comprises Namibia and the western parts of South Africa. Previously, 26 species were known from Namibia and 29 species, including four introduced species, from the South African part of this ...
