Cassava has potential for many industrial uses, which provide an opportunity for more rewarding markets. Therefore, significant research on improved varieties, targeting industrial applications, is required as a possible approach to spur improvements in the value chain. In addition, the promotion of cassava for production, targeting industrial applications, requires information on yield and stability performance of cassava genotypes and varieties in a diverse range of environments. To this end, ...

Cowpea is the most important grain legume in Nigeria but the yield obtained on farmers’ fields is far below the potential yield of the crop. This study aimed at exploiting rhizobia inoculation, phosphorus application, varietal differences and sequential cropping system to improve the productivity and profitability of cowpea per unit area in Minna, Nigeria. A glasshouse and two field experiments were conducted between 2015 and 2017. The glasshouse experiment was a factorial combination of four ...

The adoption of soil conservation practices is important for sustaining Nigerian agriculture where smallholder maize farmers face constraints such as low soil fertility that lead to low productivity and food insecurity. This study aims to analyze the effect of soil conservation on productivity and food security of maize farmers in Northwest Nigeria. The study used a two year panel data of 792 maize farmers for 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons, collected by IITA under “Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale ...

Yam (Dioscorea species) consist of about 600 species with only 6 species mostly used as food yam. New landraces have been cultivated across Sub-Saharan Africa with little or no information on their identities. However, information on these landraces will serve as a genetic tool for crop improvement. This study assesses the morphological and molecular characterisation of the newly collected yam landraces for genetic diversity.One hundred accessions, comprising Dioscorea rotundata (83), Dioscorea ...

The Northern Region of Ghana is vulnerable to weather variability especially uneven rainfall distribution patterns. This compromises soil moisture availability for optimal crop growth. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of cowpea living mulch as a soil and water conservation measure on soil moisture fluxes and maize growth in the Northern Region of Ghana. Four different maize-cowpea intercrop systems were combined with three maize varieties in four different communities and their ...

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a heavy feeder crop that exploits large volume of soil for nutrients, hence the continuous cultivation of cassava result in nutrient depletion, unless adequate fertilizer input such as inorganic fertilizer is used. This necessitated testing the effect of eleven different fertilizer types: Control (no fertilizer), recommended rate of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), half recommended rate of N, P, K, NPK + Micro-nutrients, NP, NK, PK, half N + P, K, ...

Biochar, a product of biomass gasification is used to sequester carbon in soils for long periods of time and intensification of agricultural productivity. Crop residues are an important source of biomass for biochar production but availability in smallholder farming systems across Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) is unknown due to the cost and labor involved in obtaining related empirical data. The study presented here was carried out in Pallisa district, Uganda and (1) mapped crop residue yields and ...

Inoculation of soybean (Glycine max) is an efficient and convenient way of introducing rhizobia to soil and subsequently the rhizosphere of the crop. However, its full potential in sub-Saharan Africa is yet to be realized due to effects of varying soil limiting conditions. Critical levels of nitrogen (N) below and above which response is not guaranteed are unknown. The objective of the study was to determine the critical range of N outside which response to inoculation is hindered. Below the lower ...

Several techniques, such as chemical and bio-insecticides have been applied by farmers to control thrips (Megalurothrips sjostedti) damage on cowpea. Many factors, such as improper amount of insecticides to dilute in water, cost and unavailability of insecticides and equipment limit the effective control of these thrips. Incorporating thrips resistant genes into local adapted landraces could increase farmers‘ income. These new lines could be grown with minimal insecticide application. Participatory ...