How beans can address food, nutrition and income challenges during COVID-19
By Robert Fungo The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant disruptions in food systems, especially on the poorest nations of Africa and Asia. PABRA explores how the bean crop can be exploited, to address these challenges of the affected communities during these pandemic times. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.,) is the most important legume for consumption...
Fresh bean grain business in Tanzania; a new hope for youth and women
Beans are a staple food in most rural households in Tanzania. They are both a food and income-generating crop in most households. Kagera region is one of the leading producers of common beans in Tanzania. The most popular traditional dish in the area is beans mixed with banana locally known as ’matoke’ accompanied with some vegetables....
Improving the crop Nigeria calls ‘farmer’s meat’
Our Foundation recently brought together Nigerian farmers and other stakeholders for a cowpea Field Day. The two-day event enabled participants to see new varieties emerging from the AVISA* program. With a clear favorite apparent, the task is now to ensure seed company production and smallholder access. “Cowpea is an important grain legume in Nigeria”,...
Farmers in mali endorse climate-resilient and high-yielding crop varieties
Farmers in Mali, who volunteered to grow climate-resilient and locally adapted varieties of sorghum, pearl millet, groundnut and cowpea crops under the UE-APSAN-Mali project, demonstrated the superior features of their crops during a field visit by other farmers, seed producers and local officials. Small groups of selected highly motivated farmers identified through project implementing partners...
CSIR-SARI introduces high yielding groundnut varieties to farmers
The Savanah Agriculture Research Institute of the Council for Scientific Industrial Research (CSRI-SARI), has introduced high yielding groundnut varieties to farmers in the Pusiga District of the Upper East Region. The groundnut varieties, SARINUT 1 and SARINUT 2, developed by CSIR-SARI and its partners were released in 2019. “These varieties are high yielding and tolerant...
A new digital hub to consolidate learnings from global food legume initiatives
To enable crop researchers and policymakers access information on the three Tropical Legumes projects under one roof, a digital hub has been developed to capture learnings and impacts of crop varietal development and distribution initiatives taken up under the projects. Developed by Scriptoria, the hub has a resource center with over 250 vital resources, from scientific articles to policy briefs,...
Building gender and youth research capacities for agriculture and development
Aspiring researchers who attended ICRISAT’s capacity building programs in gender and youth research in East and Southern Africa say their learnings from the programs involving extensive field work have given them a strong orientation in these areas vis-à-vis agriculture research for development. The value of research, technological change and innovation in agriculture for transforming economies...
Increased funding support to AVISA to accelerate crop improvement and improve seed delivery systems
One year after it began, Accelerated Varietal Improvement and Seed Delivery of Legumes and Cereals in Africa (AVISA) project is being strengthened to magnify its impact potential with a two-year supplementary grant from USAID. The funding aims to enhance the project’s investments and support for modernizing breeding activities and seed systems. The USAID investment for 2020...
Agenda of the webinar on Early generation seed business models in the era of covid-19: harvesting best practices in sub-Saharan Africa
EVENT DATE: Sep 15, 2020 TIME: 14:00-16:30 HRS GMT LOCATION: Zoom HOST: ICRISAT and Partners Background While the science of discovery has made significant breakthroughs in developing new varieties and agronomic practices, few of these technologies have made their way to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. The science ofdelivery has still a long way to go as a large proportion of farmers is using poor quality seed of old sub- optimally adapted varieties. The relatively low adoption rates of improved...
WEBINAR: Early Generation Seed Business Models in the era of COVID-19: harvesting best practices in sub-Saharan Africa
EVENT DATE: Sep 15, 2020 TIME: 14:00 -16:30 HRS (GMT) LOCATION: Zoom HOST: ICRISAT and Partners REGISTER HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KhTsgsqbTA6MOMixOAyNnw Background: While the science of discovery has made significant breakthroughs in developing new varieties and agronomic practices, few of these technologies have made their way to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. The science of delivery has still a long way...