Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is a leguminous and oil crop with rapidly growing importance and demand in Africa following the increasing demand for oil and livestock and poultry feed in sub-Saharan Africa. However, soybean productivity is low in most countries of sub-Saharan Africa, especially in West Africa, where productivity is below one ton per ha. Hence, concerted soybean varietal development and testing efforts have been underway by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture ...

Poverty persists in many developing countries, including Nigeria, owing to inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, or poor working conditions, among other factors. Youth poverty and vulnerability to poverty have been identified to prevalent among the young population. Using an endogenous switching probit regression approach, in this study, we evaluated the impacts of youth participation in agribusiness programs (YIAPs) on poverty and vulnerability to poverty in Nigeria. Our findings revealed that ...

The largest genetic diversity of plantain banana (Musa AAB subgroup) is found by DRCongo. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are synergistic beneficial organisms with a positive effect on growth vigor. We determined the influence of plantain banana-based agrosystems on the diversity of AMF in agroforestry and home-garden field systems located in the Kisangani region of DR Congo. Soil samples of the different agrosystems showed a high mycorrhizal frequency (82.5%) with an overall mycorrhizal rate ...

Horticultural crops, including fruits and vegetables, form a major source of nutrition containing minerals and vitamins for humans and have been primarily cultivated since thousands of years of domestication. Their production has crossed the 10 billion tons mark value signifying their massive demand in the market. However, they are adversely affected by various abiotic stresses such as drought, heat, salinity, and cold, which are adversely affecting their production. This highlights serious and ...

Cassava (Manihot esculenta. Crantz) is a starch-rich, woody tuberous, root crop important for food, with little being done to investigate its potential as a bioenergy crop despite its enormous potential. The major bottleneck in the crop being able to serve this dual role is the competition of its storage roots for both purposes. The major cassava production regions primarily use the tuberous roots for food, and this has resulted in its neglect as a bioenergy crop. The use of non-food cassava parts ...

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is a staple crop for millions of people in the tropics and subtropics. Its genetic improvement through breeding is being challenged by pre-zygotic and post-zygotic cross-compatibility barriers within and among species. Studies dissecting hybridization barriers on yam for improving the crossability rates are limited. This study aimed to assess the cross-compatibility, which yielded fruit set, viable seeds and progeny plants in an extensive intraspecific and interspecific crossing ...

Declining soil fertility and climatic extremes are among major problems for agricultural production in most dryland agro-ecologies of sub-Saharan Africa. In response, the agroforestry technology intercropping of Gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.)) and Maize (Zea mays L.) was developed to complement conventional soil fertility management technologies. However, diversified information on the profitability of Gliricidia-Maize intercropping system in dryland areas is scanty. Using data from the ...

Global agriculture is poised to benefit from the rapid advance and diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. AI in agriculture could improve crop management and agricultural productivity through plant phenotyping, rapid diagnosis of plant disease, efficient application of agrochemicals and assistance for growers with location-relevant agronomic advice. However, the ramifications of machine learning (ML) models, expert systems and autonomous machines for farms, farmers and food security ...

Knowledge of the genetic structure and diversity of germplasm collections is crucial for sustainable genetic improvement through hybridization programs and rapid adaptation to changing breeding objectives. The objective of this study was to determine the genetic diversity and population structure of 281 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) soybean accessions using diversity array technology (DArT) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for the efficient utilization of ...

Constant production of quality food should be a norm in any community, but climate change, increasing population, and unavailability of land for farming affect food production. As a result, food scarcity is affecting some communities, especially in the developing world. Finding a stable solution to this problem is a major cause of concern for researchers. Synergistic application of molecular marker techniques with next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies can unlock the potentials hidden in ...