Journal and Journal Articles: Recent submissions

Now showing items 161-180 of 5266

    • A qualitative exploratory study of the political commitment for nutrition programming: a case study of Anambra and Kebbi States of Nigeria 

      Ezekannagha, O.; Drimie, S.; Von Fintel, D.; Maziya-Dixon, B.; Mbhenyane, X. (2024-02-24)
      In Nigeria, varying levels of malnutrition across states present a critical challenge to public health, demanding tailored policy responses. This paper delves into the specific issues and dynamics influencing nutrition programs in the country. Advocating for nutrition-sensitive actions requires analyzing context-specific political commitment. This article presents a case study on two Nigerian states with varying malnutrition profiles to explore the political economy of nutrition. The study used ...

    • A robust DayCent model calibration to assess the potential impact of integrated soil fertility management on maize yields, soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions in Kenya 

      Laub, M.; Necpalova, M.; Van de Broek, M.; Corbeels, M.; Ndungu, S.M.; Mucheru-Muna, M.W.; Mugendi, D.; Yegon, R.; Waswa, W.; Vanlauwe, B.; Six, J. (2023)
      Sustainable intensification schemes that increase crop production and soil fertility, such as integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), are a proposed strategy to close yield gaps and achieve food security in sub-Saharan Africa while maintaining soil fertility. However, field trials are insufficient to estimate the potential impact of such technologies at the regional or national scale. Upscaling via biogeochemical models, such as DayCent, from the field-scale to a larger region can be a suitable ...

    • Drought vulnerability of central Sahel agrosystems: a modelling-approach based on magnitudes of changes and machine learning techniques 

      Hanade Houmma, I.; El Mansouri, L.; Gadal, S.; Faouzi, E.; Toure, A.A.; Garba, M.; Imani, Y.; El-Ayachi, M.; Hadria, R. (2023-07-24)
      Agricultural drought is a complex phenomenon with numerous consequences and negative implications for agriculture and food systems. The Sahel is frequently affected by severe droughts, leading to significant losses in agricultural yields. Consequently, assessing vulnerability to agricultural drought is essential for strengthening early warning systems. The aim of this study is to develop a new multivariate agricultural drought vulnerability index (MADVI) that combines static and dynamic factors ...

    • Anticipating social differentiation and unintended consequences in scaling initiatives using GenderUp, a method to support responsible scaling 

      McGuire, E.; Leeuwis, C.; Rietveld, A.M.; Teeken, B. (2024-03)
      CONTEXT A key strategy in progressing towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is scaling innovations to improve livelihoods of marginalized populations globally. Consequently, there has been a heightened emphasis on Agriculture Research for Development (AR4D) innovation teams' ability to swiftly identify innovations that can be scaled for broad impact. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the equitable distribution of benefits among different demographic groups, leading to ...

    • Improving the adoption of stress tolerant maize varieties using social ties, awareness or incentives: insights from Northern Benin (West-Africa) 

      Adechian, S.A.; Baco, M.N.; Abdoulaye, T. (2023-11-08)
      Maize is the staple food of most households in sub-Saharan Africa. The adoption of stress-tolerant maize varieties (STMV) is being promoted due to climate change. There are various methods applied to disseminate these varieties. Unfortunately, the adoption at the household level is still unsatisfactory. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the dissemination methods used in Benin. We identified dissemination methods from key informants involved in STMV seed dissemination projects. The performance ...

    • Identification of the Loci associated with resistance to banana xanthomonas wilt (Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum) using DArTSeq markers and continuous mapping 

      Uwimana, B.; Nakato, G.V.; Kanaabi, R.; Nasuuna, C.; Mwanje, G.; Mahuku, G.; Akech, V.; Vuylsteke, M.; Swennen, R.; Shah, T. (2024)
      Banana Xanthomonas wilt, caused by Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum (Xvm), is a devastating disease that results in total yield loss of affected plants. Resistance to the disease is limited in Musa acuminata, but it has been identified so far in the zebrina subspecies. This study identified markers associated with tolerance to Xvm in Monyet, a tetraploid banana from the zebrina subspecies which was identified to be partially resistant to the bacterium. We used a triploid progeny of 135 F1 hybrids ...

    • The importance and determinants of purchases in rural food consumption in Africa: implications for food security strategies 

      Dzanku, F.M.; Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O.; Reardon, T. (2024-01-23)
      We analyze rural households’ purchases of food (cereals and non-cereals) in Sub-Saharan Africa using nationally representative data with 65,000 observations covering 7 countries over a decade. We distinguish between three strata of countries: lower stratum in income and urbanization, middle stratum, and upper stratum. The paper breaks ground by the breadth and time length of the sample. We find that purchases form the majority of rural food consumption whether in favorable or unfavorable agroecological ...

    • Smallholder aquaculture diversifies livelihoods and diets thus improving food security status: evidence from northern Zambia 

      Kaminski, A.M.; Cole, S.M.; Johnson, J.; Thilsted, S.H.; Lundeba, M.; Genschick, S.; Little, D.C. (2024-01-05)
      Much has been made of the potential for aquaculture to improve rural livelihoods and food and nutrition security in Africa, though little evidence exists to back such claims. This study, conducted in northern Zambia, assessed the benefits of adopting aquaculture by comparing a sample of households with (n = 177) and without fishponds (n = 174).

    • Rhizoglomus variabile and Nanoglomus plukenetiae, native to Peru, promote coffee growth in Western Amazonia 

      Corazon-Guivin, M.A.; Romero-Cachique, G.; Del Aguila, K.M.; Padilla-Dominguez, A.; Hernandez-Amasifuen, A.D.; Cerna-Mendoza, A.; Coyne, D.; Oehl, F. (2023-11-29)
      Coffee (Coffea arabica) is among the world’s most economically important crops. Coffee was shown to be highly dependent on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in traditionally managed coffee plantations in the tropics. The objective of this study was to assess AMF species richness in coffee plantations of four provinces in Perú, to isolate AMF isolates native to these provinces, and to test the effects of selected indigenous AMF strains on coffee growth. AMF species were identified by morphological ...

    • Morphometric diversity of some Nigerian accessions of Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) 

      Osundare, O.T.; Akinyele, O.B.; Odiyi, A.C.; Abberton, M.T.; Oyatomi, O.O.; Paliwal, R. (2023)
      This study evaluated the morphological diversity of some Nigerian accessions of Bambara groundnut. Field experiments were conducted in Nigeria in two locations and the phenotypic variation of Bambara groundnut accessions evaluated in 3 years (2017–2020) using a randomized complete block design. Twenty-eight quantitative and 10 qualitative traits were observed. Twenty-three out of the 28 quantitative morphological traits showed significant differences. TVSu-589 (28.85) and TVSu-670 (28.57) had the ...

    • Heterogeneity in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant communities of the Brazilian Cerrado, transitional areas toward the Caatinga, and the Atlantic forest 

      de Pontes, J.S.; Oehl, F.; Pereira, C.D.; de Toledo Machado, C.T.; Coyne, D.; da Silva, D.K.A.; Maia, L.C. (2024-01-08)
      The Cerrado is the most diverse tropical savanna worldwide and the second-largest biome in South America. The objective of this study was to understand the heterogeneity and dynamics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in different types of natural Cerrado vegetation and areas that are transitioning to dryer savannas or tropical rainforests and to elucidate the driving factors responsible for the differences between these ecosystems. Twenty-one natural sites were investigated, including typical ...

    • Sources of genetic resistance to Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp tracheiphilum) in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) and comparison of inoculum concentration levels 

      Omoigui, L.O.; Danmaigona, C.C.; Kamara, A.Y.; Alakonya, A.E.; Ademulegun, T.D.; Zarafi, A.B. (2023-12-09)
      Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp tracheiphilum (Fot) is a soil-borne fungal disease of significant constraint to cowpea production in West Africa. The disease infection can cause up to 100% yield loss in highly infested fields. The most effective control strategy is the use of resistant varieties. Sixty cowpea germplasm collections were screened for resistance to F. oxysporum. The result revealed that only two (TVu 134 and TVu 410) of the germplasm showed a high level of resistance ...

    • SNP-based marker-assisted selection for high provitamin A content in African cassava genetic background 

      Codjia, E.D.; Olasanmi, B.; Ugoji, C.E.; Rabbi, I.Y. (2023-12)
      Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) contributes to significant levels of mortality and morbidity, particularly among children and women in Africa. Cassava is a major staple crop whose biofortification with beta-carotene can contribute to reducing the VAD prevalence in a cost-effective and sustainable approach. Developing high provitamin A content (pVAC) cassava varieties through the conventional approach is a laborious and slow process, partly due to the breeding bottlenecks caused by the biology of the ...

    • Socioeconomic effects of Oyo state government COVID-19 palliatives on poultry farmers 

      Akande, A.; Ayedun, B. (2023)
      This study interviewed 349 poultry farmers that benefited from government poultry feed input palliatives meant to help them to contain the negative effects of COVID-19 of hunger, food insecurity, and poverty. Demographic results revealed that both males and females are involved in poultry farming; the average age of poultry farmers was 45 years, with an average family size of five. The average years of education were 13, equivalent to JSS 3 in the Nigerian education system. Types of poultry show ...

    • Varietal diversity as a lever for cassava variety development: exploring varietal complementarities in Cameroon 

      Takam-Tchuente, H.N.; Fongang Fouepe, G.H.; Mbwentchou Yao, D.C.; Mathe, S.; Teeken, B. (2023)
      BACKGROUND: Cassava is an important crop for the survival of smallholder farmers in Cameroon. However, the cassava sector has a low production per unit area compared to the technological potential in this country. In this context, breeders have developed varieties based mainly on their potential in terms of yield and disease resistance. These varieties have been widely disseminated in Cameroon within the framework of development projects. However, these releases have not achieved the expected ...

    • Seasonal abundance of Paracoccus marginatus (Williams and Granara de Willink) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) and damage to papaya seedlings in three agroecological zones in Southwestern Nigeria 

      Larayetan, A.A.; Adedire, C.O.; Umeh, V.; Goergen, G. (2021)
      The Papaya Mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink, is an invasive species. The abundance of the papaya mealy bug and its damage to seedlings were investigated in the field at three agro-ecological zones: which includes Akure (Rainforest), Ogbomoso (Guinea savannah), Ibadan (Derived savannah) in the 2016 growing seasons. At each site, 10 healthy mother plants with fruit (> 17cm GBH) were randomly selected from which five infested and non-infested leaves (fifth to the 13th ...

    • Identification of diagnostic KASP-SNP markers for routine breeding activities in yam (Dioscorea spp.) 

      Agre, A.P.; Clark, L.V.; Garcia-Oliveira, A.L.; Bohar, R.; Adebola, P.O.; Asiedu, R.; Terauchi, R.; Asfaw, A. (2023)
      Maintaining genetic purity and true-to-type clone identification are important action steps in breeding programs. This study aimed to develop a universal set of kompetitive allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (KASP)-based single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for routine breeding activities. Ultra-low-density SNP markers were created using an initial set of 173,675 SNPs that were obtained from whole-genome resequencing of 333 diverse white Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir) genotypes. ...

    • Hydroxamic acids: New players in the multifactorial mechanisms of maize resistance to Striga hermonthica 

      Marcotrigiano, R.A.; Carluccio, A.V.; Unachukwu, N.; Adeoti, S.R.; Abdulsalam, T.; Gedil, M.; Menkir, A.; Gisel, A.; Stavolone, L. (2023-11)
      Striga hermonthica is the most widespread and destructive plant parasite infesting maize and other major crops in sub-Saharan Africa where it causes severe yield losses and threatens food security. Several tolerant maize lines supporting reduced S. hermonthica emergence have been deployed. However, the molecular bases of such resistance are yet poorly understood. Based on a time course comparative gene expression analysis between susceptible and resistant maize lines we have confirmed resistance ...

    • Prioritizing preferred traits in the yam value chain in Nigeria: a gender situation analysis 

      Okoye, B.; Ofoeze, M.; Ejechi, M.; Onwuka, S.; Nwafor, S.; Onyemauwa, N.; Ukeje, B.; Eluagu, C.; Obidiegwu, J.; Olaosebikan, O.; Madu, T. (2023-11-13)
      This study describes what did and did not work in the prioritization of preferred traits within the value chain of yam and associated food products (boiled and pounded yam) in Nigeria. Demand-led breeding protocols have enhanced participatory methods along gender lines to increase the clarity of information on the yam traits preferred by farmers and other end users. Drawing on the experience of the cross-cutting gender team at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, and partners, ...

    • Evaluation of genotypic variability and analysis of yield and its components in irrigated rice to stabilize yields in the Senegal river valley affected by climate change 

      Moukoumbi, Y.D.; Bayendi Loudit, S.M.; Sikirou, M.; Mboj, D.; Hussain, T.; Bocco, R.; Manneh, B. (2023)
      Rice is an important cereal crop in many countries, but its production in the Senegal River Valley is hampered by adverse climatic conditions. This study was aimed at evaluating the diversity among genotypes and the association between several phenological and yield attributes of irrigated rice to mitigate the consequences of climate change. During the dry season of 2013–2014, 300 irrigated high yielding oryza sativa indica panel were used in an Alpha-lattice experiment at the Ndiaye research ...