The paper deals with the problem of economically sustainable technological innovation for agriculture in the risky environment of Niger’s Sahelian zone smallholders. For these farmers, low-input mineral fertiliser technologies have been developed in the nineties in order to increase the productivity of their millet farming systems. As economic assessment cannot be restricted to plot or farm assessment alone but has to take into account also markets and marketing patterns, a sequence of models has ...

The cassava mosaic disease (CMD) is an economically important disease of the food crop cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in Africa. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with resistance to CMD were identified using 132 F1 progeny derived from a cross between the CMD resistant accession TMSI30572 and the susceptible landrace TME117. The population was evaluated in the field for two growing seasons in Nigeria. Mean disease severity scores (MDSS) were used for QTL analysis. Five highly significant ...

Sweetness, consistency, fibre content and yield are good criteria determining consumer's preference of boiled sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) roots in the south-western Nigeria. From July 2000 to September 2001, some 15 sweet potato clones were evaluated at Ibadan so as to recommend suitable ones for cultivation and consumption in this area. Three trials was carried out within this period in the field, polybag and then field environments. The mean fresh root yield for all trialsacross 3,4 and 5 ...

Unlike Southeast Asia and the Amazon regions, where large-scale agricultural operations play an important role, most of the deforestation in the Congo basin is attributed to smallholder agriculturalists using extensive slash-and-burn techniques. Improved rural livelihoods are the key to poverty reduction and sustainability of landscape mosaics at the forest-agriculture interface of the Congo basin region. The issue has become more complex with globalisation and the situation therefore calls for ...

The association among different traits and their direct and indirect influence on yield using path analysis were conducted with 30 broad-based and diverse cassava genotypes evaluated at four agroecological zones in Nigeria. Traits evaluated include reactions of the genotypes to prevalent pest and diseases, and shoot and root characteristics. The result showed that cassava mosaic disease (CMD) incidence and severity were significantly but negatively correlated (P<0.01) with root yield, with correlation ...

Some 96 accessions of cassava (Manihot esculenta) were evaluted for genetic diversity using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. Ten out of 80 Primers were considered highly informative and were used to fingerprint all of the accessions. Amplification of genomic DNA with the primers revealed a total of 63 different banding positions ranging from 0.3 to 2.0 kb. The number of bands per primer ranged from five to nine. The RAPD patterns were highly reproducible. While no variation was ...

The shaded cocoa cropping system found throughout West Africa but particularly well represented in Cameroon and Nigeria is a sustainable agricultural land use system that provides relatively high values of environmental services. The paper describes and quantifies some of its non-cocoa economic and environmental values and examines the economic logic underlying smallholder management. Estimates of these values are developed from field surveys and on-farm research conducted with cocoa producers in ...

Sorghum Improvement Conference of North America, Lubbock, USA, International Sorghum and Millets Newsletter 45:66-69. This paper covers the results of studies on the genetic diversity of Magnaporthe grisea causing blast disease in finger millet (Eleusine coracana) in East Africa; pathogen aggressiveness and epidemiology; disease and socioeconomic surveys in Kenya; and finger millet varietal screening for blast resistance.

Host-plant resistance (HPR) to insect pests is considered one of the key tactics for insect control, particularly in developing countries where utilization of other control methods such as pesticides is often difficult or unwise. The search for more sustainable methods of pest control, make host-plant resistance more attractive every day. Additionally, the opportunity for utilizing new insect resistance genes and the ability to move these across plant species, through plant biotechnology, open new ...