The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance of applying open-source technologies for mobile-based data collection for real-time tracking of seed yam (Dioscorea rotundata and Dioscorea alata) production. Seed yam data in Nigeria have been predominantly collected using field notebooks in the past, which were subsequently entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or Access database for analysis and reposition. Relevant areas of weakness within the current data systems include time delay ...

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, ...

With many of the world’s poor engaged in agriculture, agricultural development programmes often aim to improve livelihoods through improved farming practices. Research on the impacts of agricultural technology interventions is dominated by comparisons of adopters and non-adopters. By contrast, in this literature study, we critically review how technology evaluation studies assess differentiated impacts in smallholder farming communities. We searched systematically for studies which present ...

In vitro plant propagation systems such as temporary immersion bioreactors (TIBs) are valuable tools that enable production of disease-free plants with improved traits. However, TIB systems can be expensive, difficult to implement, and prone to contamination due to sugar rich propagation media. Using rapidly growing chicory root cultures to expedite design-build-test cycles, we report here an improved, low-cost version of a previously reported Hydrostatically-driven TIB (Hy-TIB) that facilitates ...

Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is one of the major pests of okra (Abelmoschus spp). On one hand, direct damages due to its feeding habit results in curling and deformation of young leaves. On the other hand, indirect damages are caused because of honeydew secreted on fruits and leaves with, which in turn may promot growth of black sooty mould. The black sooty mouls stain and reduce fruit and leaf quality and reduce photosynthetic activity. In addition, honeydew attracts ants that ...

Adoption of CA in smallholder farmers in Africa is (s)low partly due to poor spatial targeting. Mapping the crop yield from different CA systems across space and time can reveal their spatial recommendation domains. Integration of machine learning (ML) and free remotely sensed big data have opened huge opportunities for data-driven insights into complex problems in agriculture. The objective of this study was to estimate the spatial-temporal variations of maize grain yields from 13-year multi-location ...

Viruses of the genus Badnavirus (family Caulimoviridae) are double-stranded DNA-reverse transcribing (dsDNA-RT) plant viruses and have emerged as serious pathogens of tropical and temperate crops globally. Endogenous badnaviral sequences are found integrated in the genomes of several economically important plant species. Infection due to activation of replication-competent integrated copies of the genera Badnavirus, Petuvirus and Cavemovirus has been described. Such endogenous badnaviral elements ...

Background: The accurate measurements of the mineral content of cassava roots are vital from a nutritional perspective. The research datasets were from the study assessing the influence of storage root portion, maturity, and environment on the variations of minerals in biofortified cassava roots. Methods: Twenty-five biofortified clones with three varieties as checks were harvested 12 months after planting from five different environments. Also, a different thirty-nine (39) biofortified cassava ...

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important staple, as well as cash crop, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, its production is severely constrained by low soil nitrogen (low N). Fifty-four early-maturing hybrids developed during three breeding periods, (2008–2010, 2011–2013 and 2014–2016) were evaluated under low (30 kg ha−1) and high (120 kg ha−1) soil nitrogen (N) in Ile-Ife and Mokwa, Nigeria, from 2017 to 2019. The study was designed to (i) determine the genetic gains in grain yield of the ...