East African highland banana (Musa acuminata genome group AAA-EA; hereafter referred to as banana) is critical for Uganda’s food supply, hence our aim to map current distribution and to understand changes in banana production areas over the past five decades. We collected banana presence/absence data through an online survey based on high-resolution satellite images and coupled this data with independent covariates as inputs for ensemble machine learning prediction of current banana distribution. ...

While international trade in agricultural commodities can spur economic development especially where governance is strong, there are also concerns about the local impacts of commodity production and their distribution on the environment and on people. The sustainable development goals (SDGs), though seeing trade as a means to support their achievement, recognise the need to address potential negative social and environmental impacts. It is therefore important to assess the contribution of international ...

This study investigated the proximate, cyanide, and glycemic indices of roots and eba (gari dough) made from improved cassava cultivars. Twenty cassava cultivars were obtained from the IITA research farms and analyzed for proximate and carbohydrate compositions and cyanogenic potential using standard procedures. Afterward, four cassava varieties were selected using the agglomerate hierarchical cluster analysis. The selected varieties were processed into gari and reconstituted in hot water into ...

Improved food security and nutrition remain a notable global challenge. Yet, food security and nutrition are areas of strategic importance regarding the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The increasingly weakening global food production systems pose a threat to sustainable improved food security and nutrition. Consequently, a significant population remains chronically hungry and severely malnourished. As a remedy, farm production diversity (FPD) remains a viable pathway through which ...

Background An understanding of farmers' preferences of new banana cultivars and their characteristics is critical for developing and selecting cultivars that meet consumer needs. Therefore, phenotypic selection in a genetically variable population remains an important aspect of plant breeding. Methods The participatory varietal selection approach for preference ranking was used on 31 'Matooke' secondary and primary triploid hybrids and local banana cultivars evaluated between 2016 and 2019 in ...

Increasing global food insecurity amidst a growing population and diminishing production resources renders the currently dominant linear production model insufficient to combat such challenges. Hence, a circular bioeconomy (CBE) model that ensures more conservative use of resources has become essential. Specifically, a CBE model that focuses on recycling and reusing organic waste is essential to close nutrient loops and establish more resilient rural-urban nexus food systems. However, the CBE ...

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are wild plant species that are closely related or ancestral to cultivated plants. Because they often have high allelic diversity compared to their associated crop, they are an important source for the improvement of multiple agronomic traits such as yield or the resistance against biotic or abiotic stresses. Loss of genetic diversity due to increasing anthropogenic pressure now threatens their long term survival. There is a growing recognition of the importance of CWR ...

Amenity trees are components of the urban forest which contribute significantly to human wellbeing and improves environmental quality. Benefits derivable from amenity trees are numerous but inadequate or lack of knowledge of the structure of the urban treescape as well as poor or no management practices like institutional framework has limited these benefits. A number of institutions has lot of trees planted within their premises. However, more often than not, those trees have become hazardous and ...

Establishing protected areas creates an opportunity to reduce deforestation. This study aims to inform the Congolese government’s efforts to promote forest and biodiversity conservation by assessing the effectiveness of the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve (YBR) in reducing deforestation. Group and individual interviews designed to understand the causes of pressure on forest cover in the Yangambi landscape complemented satellite imagery analyses. The results indicate that deforestation inside the YBR ...

In recent times, calls for practical training of agricultural extension workers, who exhibit the right mix of competences for responsiveness to farmer learning needs, have intensified. This comes at the time when there is an increasingly growing desire for more community‐engaged African universities, and as such, making the integration of agricultural students into community outreach services a necessity. However, empirical evidence on whether student‐led outreach and training models adequately ...