Research grant to fund vegetable pests’ research in three African countries

The German government has granted €1.2 million (about US$1.6 million) for research into pest management of tomato and pepper in Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar and Thailand.

The project will also introduce interventions that will significantly lessen reliance on chemical pesticides in vegetable farms, consequently reducing hazards to farmers’ health and the environment.

The initiative will be led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and implemented in partnership with the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC). Researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany, Kenyatta University in Kenya, and Kasetsart University in Thailand. National agricultural research services, NGOs, private sector, and vegetable farmers’ groups in the four countries will also take part.

CGIAR-IITA

Nigeria to release Vitamin A-rich, yellow-fleshed cassava

In December 2011, Nigeria's National Variety Release Committee announced three winning varieties in a 12 year contest between thousands of entrants. The contest, in reality a joint breeding programme of IITA* and Nigeria's National Root Crops Research Institute, had just one goal: to identify high yielding, disease resistant cassava varieties that could help to tackle one of Nigeria's most serious forms of malnutrition.

Vitamin A deficiency, which lowers immunity to disease and causes impaired vision or even blindness, affects almost 20 per cent of pregnant women and nearly one third of children under five in Nigeria. Standard white-fleshed cassava is eaten by more than 70 million Nigerians every day, but contains virtually no beta-carotene, a substance converted by the body into Vitamin A. In contrast, the newly released varieties, which have yellow roots, contain around six micro-grams of beta-carotene per gram, enough to provide up to 25 per cent of daily needs.
Screening, selecting and testing

The breeding work, which has used conventional methods and has been funded for the last eight years by the HarvestPlus programme, screened up to 100,000 cassava seedlings a year for high beta-carotene content and other desirable traits. Hundreds of the most promising plants were then investigated further in multi-locational trials in 13 states, covering Nigeria's major agro-ecologies from rainforest belt to northern guinea savannah. Farmers have been key participants, both in the early stages of selection, in order to ensure that yellow-rooted varieties perform well against the full spectrum of farmer preferences, and in on-farm trials of the most promising candidates.

Measuring the beta-carotene levels in cassava poses its own challenges. The roots deteriorate quickly once harvested, restricting the number of samples that can be tested; this has prompted research into long-term storage strategies. But the breeding process has grown significantly faster over the life of the programme, with greater gene frequency achieved for Vitamin A and improved selection and screening. As a result, while the three new varieties took 12 years from first being crossed to being ready for release, a second group of varieties has reached almost the same point in just six years and contains nearly double the quantity of beta-carotene. Even higher pro-vitamin levels are currently being pursued, with the breeding programme aiming to achieve a target concentration of 15 micrograms per gram by 2015.
Decentralised and demand-driven

Changing the colour of a staple food is normally risky, since it can prejudice adoption by consumers. In the case of cassava, however, local processors often add palm oil to white cassava flour when producing the most popular cassava-based food, gari, giving it a golden hue. As a result, the yellow colour of the new varieties was no deterrent, and was even preferred by some processors. Farmers involved in evaluation trials were also impressed, the new varieties yielding up to 20 tonnes per hectare, comparable with popular white varieties, and having similar starch levels and processing characteristics.

Cassava stems are bulky and quickly lose quality when transported, so multiplying and distributing the new cassava varieties in significant quantities requires a localised approach. The programme is initially focussing on four key states, with ten local governments per state each cultivating a one hectare plot to provide planting material for village level multiplication. By 2013, the plan is to produce enough stems to supply 25,000 households, which will be available at no cost, on condition that recipients supply stems to two other households in the following year.

Providing financial incentives is part of the scaling-up strategy. Private sector companies and NGOs have been enrolled to train farmers in multiplication techniques and encourage young farmers to enter a potentially rewarding business. "It's a win-win situation," says Samson Odedino of Envoy Consultancy Services, which has worked with farmers to establish multiplication plots. "Farmers selling stems will make money, rural people will enjoy better health and everyone will be happy."

For HarvestPlus, which supports conventional crop breeding to address a range of nutritional deficits, the work in Nigeria is a pilot. The programme currently has similar work underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but beyond this looks to promote policies and institutional supports that encourage acceptance of biofortification as a strategy and yellow cassava in particular, across many more countries, including Benin, Ghana, Cameroon and Uganda.

New Agriculturalist

Fertilizer use, better farming methods can double Uganda’s coffee output: study

 The use of inorganic fertilizers and improved farming practices by small-holder farmers can significantly increase, and even double, coffee production in Uganda -the world’s eleventh largest producer of the crop. This in turn would translate into more income and better lives for the estimated one-quarter of the population economically dependent on the crop in one way or another and a much-needed boost to the country’s export revenue.

This is according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) which found that farmers of Robusta coffee in Southern Uganda who used Urea fertilizer to address the Nitrogen deficiency in their fields, harvested twice as much coffee beans as those that did not. This applied both when the coffee was grown alone (monocropped) or mixed together with banana (intercropped), a common practice in the country and which a previous study by IITA showed increases incomes for farmers by as much as 50%.

The study also  found that the rate of return for farmers’ investment in fertilizer, using 2006 – 2007 prices, were as high as  545% for Robusta grown together with banana and 305% when grown alone. However, yield increases and profitability of applying nitrogen fertilizer were much lower for Arabica coffee in the Mount Elgon area where the yield increased by an average of 36 % and the rate of return was below 100%.  Nutrient deficiency mapping in the region confirmed that the soils lacked other essential minerals and not just nitrogen.

According to Dr Piet Van Asten, a systems agronomist with IITA Uganda, the current average yield for both Arabica and Robusta coffee at one ton per hectare per year is very low but farmers can easily double their production by using fertilizer and improving current farming practices. However, he says, to get the maximum return out of fertilizer use, it is important to target the nutrient deficiency in a particular area and the type of coffee instead of following blanket fertilizer recommendation. “Arabica and Robusta coffee have different nutrient requirements and nutrient deficiencies vary from place to place. Yet the current fertilizer recommendations for the crop are not specific to the coffee type nor region,” he says.

Godfrey Senabulya, 45, from Bukomansimbi district in Uganda, was one of farmers involved in the study who is making much more money than before from his coffee farming by using fertilizer and improved farming practices.  He started using fertilizers in 2006 after attending various trainings conducted under Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program (APEP) funded by USAID in 2005 and 2006.

Senabulya says he is able to comfortably feed and educate his seven children with the earnings from coffee and has greatly improved his house and farm. He therefore advices farmers that good farming practices and the use of fertilizers pays. “Farmers should not be scared of using fertilizers. They should go for training to learn how and which fertilizers to use and they will see the difference,’ he says.

The low fertilizer usage was attributed to high fertilizer prices, poor supply, and differences in farmer resource endowments.  The study showed that reduction in fertilizer prices and increase in coffee prices would make fertilizer use more acceptable even in Arabica growing region.

The research was funded by USAID through the Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program (APEP).  The study findings are also in line with a similar study led by van Asten and Lydia Wairegi, a PhD student at Makerere University which showed that moderate use of mineral fertilizers could double the production of East African highland bananas in Uganda.

New Times

New drive to save African crops from parasitic weeds

by Mazera Ndurya

Scientists in Nigeria and Kenya have started a major war against parasitic weeds that cost small scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa $1.2billion in harvests every year, aggravating food deficits.

An initiative coordinated by the Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), will introduce new methods for fighting Striga, or witchweed, and Alectra. Known as the “violet vampire” because of its bright purple colour, Striga attaches itself to the roots of plants like maize and cow peas and sucks out nutrients, reducing yields and destroying entire harvests.

Witchweed primarily affects smallholder farmers who cannot afford herbicides for fighting the parasitic plant. The most widespread Striga species is estimated to have infested up to four million hectares of land under maize in sub-Saharan Africa, causing yield losses of up to 80 per cent. According to researchers at IITA, this represents up to $1.2 billion in losses for farmers and affects about 100 million people in the region.

The parasitic weeds have spread widely in Africa because of their seeds feed on substances released by the roots of crop plants to germinate faster. The weeds also produce seeds that can remain dormant in soils for decades.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given IITA $6.75 million as part of a campaign to help 200,000 maize farmers and 50,000 cow pea farmers raise yields by 50 per cent and 100 per cent, respectively.

The  four-year project aim to improve and expand access to methods of Striga control including using a “push-pull” technology that involves intercropping with legumes that inhibit the germination of Striga, using herbicide-coated seeds and deploying bio-control of Striga.

Scientists expect that the integrated witchweed control interventions will generate an estimated $8.6 million worth of additional grain (maize and legumes) increasing incomes, improving nutrition and reducing poverty.

“The project aims to raise farmers’ awareness of the technologies, and supporting community-based organisations with technical assistance,” said Prasanna Boddupalli, director of the Global Maize Programme based in Nairobi. About 80 per cent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa depends on agriculture for food, income, and employment.

Business Daily Africa

Better soybean varieties offer African farmers more opportunities

Malawi and Nigeria have released new improved soybean varieties to increase the production of the legume.
The three varieties, one in Malawi and two in Nigeria, outperformed the popular varieties being grown in the two countries during on-station and on-farm trials.

Soybean  is an inexpensive source of protein and is being increasingly used for animal feed, food and as a raw material for producing high-quality protein products. The plant also improves soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. smile.

 The varieties were developed by the International Institute of Tropical of Agriculture (IITA) in collaboration with the Malawian Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS) and the Nigerian National Cereal Research Institute (NCRI).

The Malawi Agricultural Technology Clearing Committee (ATCC) officially approved the release of the variety TGx 1740-2F on 18 January 2011 while the Nigeria Varietal Release Committee released TGx 1987-10F and TGx 1987-62F on 2 December 2010.

According to Hailu Tefera, IITA Soybean Breeder based in Malawi, the varieties consistently did better than the standard and local checks, giving high grain yield in multiple locations under on-station and on-farm trials.

In Nigeria the two medium maturing varieties proved highly resistant to rust, bacterial blight and cercospora leaf diseases. The varieties are preferred by many farmers because they smoother weeds and reduce the cost of weeding. Farmers that participated in the on-farm trials of the varieties said they preferred them especially for their golden color at maturity.

In Malawi, TGx 1740-2F exceeded the grain variety Nasoko and the widely grown promiscuous variety Magoye which were used as checks by 10% and 32% respectively during the two-year multi-location on-station trials with a mean grain yield of 2464 kg/ha.

The variety performed equally well during on-farm participatory variety selection trials in four districts of central Malawi. In 2009/10 season, it out-yielded all the new types of soybean varieties under testing by giving 2248 kg/ha. It also surpassedNasoko and Magoye by 15% and 38%, respectively.

“Farmers had many reasons for falling in love with this variety: it matures early, has more pods per plant up to the top of the plant, performs well under poor and erratic rainfall, and has better lodging resistance. This means it remains standing upright for the better part of its growth and maturity.” says Tefera. “It is a big milestone for IITA as this is the first time that an IITA developed promiscuous soybean variety is released in Malawi,” he adds.

Promiscuous legume varieties work with the wide range of nitrogen-fixing bacteria - they capture the nitrogen in the air and make it available to the plants - in the soil while the non-promiscuous ones are selective and need specific strains which, if not present have to be introduced through inoculation. They are important for boosting productivity in Africa where poor soils are common and fertilizers are out of reach for many small-holder farmers.

The two countries are among the top five producers of the crop in Africa with Nigeria being the first and Malawi the fifth after South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

The development of these varieties serves as a boost to African nations as they strive to attain the Millennium Development Goal number one, which seeks to reduce hunger and poverty.

IITA

Progress with disease resistant cassava in East Africa

East Africa scientists have announced a near break-through in the development of new cassava varieties that are resistance to cassava brown streak disease and cassava mosaic disease.
The announcements come at a time when a new initiative to commercialize cassava processing has been started across East Africa through creation of what is known as Cassava Villages, where the crop is semi processed and then sold to livestock feed manufacturers.

Dr. Edward Kanju, a cassava breeder with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and one of the scientists behind the work said the new varieties had not only shown very mild symptoms of the diseases but were also very productive.

"The varieties offer hope to millions of poor cassava farmers in the mid-altitude areas of eastern and central Africa whose morale – and livelihoods – have been severely dampened by the two diseases," he said.

The new varieties, if successfully developed will be a major win for the cassava commercialization project because the semi processed crop has ready market in the animal feeds industry which is avoiding use of maize to make animal feed because of rising prices.

Cassava can also be processed into other products including industrial starch, flour and ethanol.

Ms Mumbi Kimathi, the director of Farm Concern International, the nonprofit group that is steering the Cassava Villages project said the project involves "setting up 120 processing units across East Africa."

Scientists said they are readying to move the varieties from on- station experimental plots to the fields to test their tolerance and productivity under actual farm conditions before they can be officially released to the farmers.

Dr. Kanju said the three were selected from among 14 breeding lines that showed resistance to the diseases from last year’s growing season.


"The three showed mild symptoms, mostly only on the leaves. The roots – the most economically important part of cassava—remained untouched. They also produced up to 35 tonnes of the crop per hectare, which is more than triple East Africa’s average of 10 tonnes per hectare," he said.

The scientists said they will start another breeding cycle soon, crossing the varieties with locally adapted ones to transfer the tolerant genes. They would also try to identify other sources of resistance to complement the breeding work.


"We will also provide the promising varieties to our partners in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, and the DRC – countries already suffering from or immediately threatened by the diseases – so they could carry out their own breeding trials adapted to local conditions," he said.

The trials are going on in Uganda.

The scientists however said it might take a few more years before cassava farmers get hold of varieties that are truly resistant to both diseases.


"Truly resistant varieties that have internal mechanisms that either stop the virus from spreading within the plant or keep its population so low that it cannot easily infect nearby plants, are the most sustainable and cost-effective solution to these deadly diseases," said Dr Kanju.

.Coastweek

IITA expert says 60% of Nigerian maize poisoned

More than 60 per cent of harvested maize in Nigeria have high level of a fungi poison called Aflatoxin, a renowned plant pathologist has said.

The plant pathologist, Dr. Ranajit Bandyopadhyay of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, said this in a press statement. He was quoted to have said in the statement that contaminated maize was prone to being rejected by feed industries.

The researcher said that investment in factory production of IITA’s product known as Aflasafe would pay off, in view of the huge demand for quality maize in the country.

According to the statement, biological control of aflatoxins, using aflasafe will rekindle hopes of a brighter future for African farmers, as the continent battles food contamination.

“The technology, which uses ‘good fungus’ to fight the ‘bad ones,’ has provided relief to hundreds of maize farmers in northern Nigeria – a region where more than 70 per cent of the population depend on agriculture as a source of livelihood,” the release said.

IITA said that in 2009, farmers who participated in field trials using aflasafe reduced contamination by about 80 per cent.

“Consequently, results from efficacy tests of the product have opened a window of opportunity for the private sector to tap into,” the statement added.

The statement quoted Bandyopadhyay as saying that with an initial investment outlay of between $1m and $3m in aflasafe manufacturing plant, investors are likely to reap about $133,000 (N20m) annually.

“This makes investment in this technology a viable option, not only for profit but also to improve the health of the people,” the researcher said.

Produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus, aflatoxins pose barriers to domestic and international trade of maize and peanuts in sub-Saharan Africa because of contaminated grains.

IITA warned that the contaminated grains have carcinogenic properties that endanger both humans and animals.


Nigerian Best Forum

Genes from sweet pepper may confer resistance to wilt disease on banana

Scientists in Uganda have developed GM bananas that show promising resistance to the deadly banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease.

Bananas are Uganda's leading non-cereal crop with some 70 per cent of the population depending on it as staple food. More than US$200 million has been lost to BXW infestation since 2001. The disease has also been reported in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Now, the banana plants modified with two genes derived from sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum) show resistance to the disease caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum.

Principal investigator Leena Tripathi, a Ugandan-based biotechnologist from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria, said inserting the genes - plant ferredoxin-like amphipathic protein (PFLP) and hypersensitive response-assisting protein (HRAP) - separately in four local banana varieties is giving encouraging results. But, she added, they still need to confirm this effectiveness in a field trial.

Even if BXW-resistant bananas prove successful in field trials, the absence of a GM law in Uganda will hamper farmers' access to the technology. The 2008 National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill is yet to be presented to the cabinet for approval before it goes to parliament for enactment.

SciDevNet

New cowpea varieties released

Two new cowpea varieties to raise production and improve farmers’ incomes have been developed by research institutions based in Nigeria. The varieties come just when the country’s researchers are finalizing their plans to attend the Fifth World Cowpea Research Conference to be held from 27 September to 1 October 2010 in Dakar, Senegal, to discuss the state of the art in cowpea research.

The varieties—IT89KD-288 and IT89KD-391—were developed by scientists working at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, in collaboration with the Institute for Agricultural Research of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; the University of Maiduguri, Borno; and the Agricultural Development Programs of Borno, Kaduna, Kano, and Katsina States.

Both varieties have proven superiority over the current improved lines being cultivated and aim to overcome the challenges faced by cowpea farmers in the country. For instance, IT89KD-288 (now SAMPEA-11) is a dual-purpose cowpea variety with large white seeds and a rough seed coat. It has combined resistance to major diseases including septoria leaf spot, scab, and bacterial blight, as well as to nematodes, and tolerance to Nigeria’s strain of Striga gesnerioides (a parasitic weed that severely lowers yield).

“It also has a yield advantage of at least 80% over the local varieties,” says Dr Alpha Kamara, IITA’s Agronomist, who is leading efforts to rapidly disseminate the varieties to farmers.

The nematode-resistant variety is an equally good candidate for sowing in cereals or as a relay crop with maize in the moist and dry savanna zones, as well as for high grain production in the dry season.

Scientists recommend that the variety be planted in mid July in the Sudan savanna, early to mid-August in the northern Guinea savanna, and by the end of August in the southern Guinea savanna. However, where there is certainty of rains up till the end of October, IT89KD-288 can be planted in September.

IT89KD-391 (now SAMPEA-12) is also a dual-purpose cowpea variety but it has medium-to-large brown seeds with a rough seed coat. These are preferred seed characteristics for commercial production in northeast Nigeria.

According to Dr Hakeem Ajeigbe, IITA Extension/Dissemination Specialist, “IT89KD-391 is a welcome improvement over SAMPEA 7, Ife brown, IT90K-76, and IT90K-82-2 which are the main improved brown-seeded varieties available. It has been tested extensively in this area and is well accepted by the farmers. The variety performs well as a sole crop and an intercrop. It could also be planted as a relay crop with maize in the Guinea savannas.” 

Several on-station and on-farm trials have shown that IT89KD-391 (SAMPEA 12) produces double the yields of local cultivars.

In 2008, Nigeria released a Striga-resistant improved cowpea variety (IT97K-499-35). Currently, efforts are being made through the project on legumes funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to make available seeds of these improved varieties by setting up community-based seed production schemes.

IITA

Developing weed resistance in maize hybrids

Millions of people in the savannas of west and central Africa rely on maize (corn) as a staple crop, and as an “insurance” food crop at the beginning of the rainy season. A destructive parasitic weed, Striga hermonthica, poses a threat to this valuable crop. Almost 64% of cropland in this area of Africa is affected by the parasite, which causes an average grain yield loss of 68%.

Farmers in Striga-infested areas have not yet adopted Striga-resistant hybrids.
Scientists at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in partnership with scientists in the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and the National Institute of Agricultural Research in Benin Republic investigated the relationship between the genetic diversity of maize inbred lines having different levels of resistance to Striga and the performance of their hybrids under parasite infestation. The results are reported in the March-April 2010 edition of Crop Science, published by the Crop Science Society of America.

The study experimented on all combinations of ten lines of maize with varying levels of resistance to the parasitic weeds in different locations in Africa over three years. Hybrids from two resistant parental lines exhibited the highest level of field resistance, while hybrids from parents with low resistance fared the worst. Hybrids with only one parent with high Striga resistance showed moderate levels of field resistance.

Another important finding was that the genetic diversity of the parental lines did not affect grain yield or other traits among the hybrids. The researchers expect that genetically diverse, Striga-resistant maize crops will provide opportunities to further increase the levels of field resistance to S. hermonthica through breeding.

Such Striga resistant maize hybrids may encourage farmers that abandoned farms due to severe Striga infestation to go back into maize production. This would contribute to food security and provide income-generating opportunities to farmers that depend on maize as an important food crop in Striga infested areas.

www.crops.org

IITA to study natural enemies of white fly in cassava

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is intensifying its efforts to find a sustainable solution to controlling populations of the whitefly, Bemisa tabaci. These tiny insects transmit the viruses that cause the Cassava Mosaic Disease and the Cassava Brown Streak Disease that are wreaking havoc on Africa’s cassava production.

Together, the two diseases cause an estimated damage of more than 1 billion USD to Africa’s cassava every year and threatening the food security and livelihoods of millions dependent on the crop.

IITA will invest in a two-year project that will identify the most effective natural enemies of the whitefly that can be deployed to reduce its population. It will also explore cassava varieties, including wild relatives, with resistance to the pest.

Dr James Legg, IITA entomologist who has been working on cassava diseases for over 10 years, says in areas where the pandemic is present the vector population is up to a hundred times greater than in areas not yet affected.

Therefore, he says, in addition to transmitting the viruses, ‘super-abundant’ Bemisia whitefly also cause physical damage to the cassava plants. Studies conducted in Uganda showed that yield losses from whitefly damage alone can be as much as 50%.

“We have been studying the biological characteristics and genetics of this ‘super-abundant’ Bemisia whitefly and assessing its local natural enemies,” he says. “With the new project, we will intensify our efforts to search for and test the effectiveness of these natural enemies as part of an integrated disease management strategy.”

The whitefly has several parasitoids – parasitic wasps that develop within young whitefly larvae, eventually killing them in the process. Although local parasitoids already ‘take out’ up to half of all whitefly young, the new project aims to make this control even stronger by introducing exotic parasitoids.

The research will identify which of these parasitoids are most suitable for the climatic conditions in Tanzania and Cameroon using computer software such as CLIMEX. The most suitable species will be selected to test their efficacy under quarantine conditions before field testing.

Dr Legg said the research will also explore cassava varieties that are resistant to whitefly. “So far our efforts have concentrated on breeding varieties with resistance to the viruses. This new dimension offers great promise for strengthening overall control of the cassava virus and virus vector system,” he says.

The project will be carried out in collaboration with International Centre for Tropical Agriculture and the University of Tel Aviv in Israel. It will target Nigeria, Cameroon, and Tanzania.

IITA has in the past successfully implemented classical biocontrol programmes that restricted the spread of the cassava green mite and cassava mealybug in sub-Saharan Africa. With this new project, IITA and its partners hope that by combining biocontrol in novel ways with host plant resistance, great strides can be made in tackling one of Africa’s most destructive pests.

IITA

Moderate fertilizer use could double African banana yields, study shows

A fertilizer-use study by researchers on East African highland bananas showed that moderate application of mineral fertilizers could double the production of the crop.

However, the study also found that majority of the banana growers in the region do not use fertilizers, missing out on the opportunity to maximize their crop's food security and economic potentials. Over 70 million people in the East African highlands depend on banana as their primary source of food and income.

The USAID-funded study carried out by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in nearly 200 farmer fields in Uganda -- the second largest producer and consumer of bananas in the world -- showed that modest fertilizer use can significantly increase the crop's yield.

In Central Uganda, for example, annual yields doubled from 10 to 20 tonnes per hectare with modest fertilizer application.

The research was led by Piet van Asten, IITA agronomist based in Uganda, and Lydia Wairegi, a PhD student at Makerere University.

"The application of fertilizers not only increases bunch weight but also shortens the crop cycle so the plants produce more bunches in a year," says van Asten.

However, the study also found that less than 5 percent of the farmers apply fertilizer on their banana crop. They cited fertilizers' high cost, erratic supply, and inconvenient packaging as the main reasons for their non-use. The farmers also indicated the lack of access to credit facilities, limited knowledge on fertilizer use, and the perceived negative effect on soil quality and on the taste of the bananas.

To debunk the latter, a related farmer sensory evaluation conducted by IITA and Uganda's National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) showed that that moderate application of fertilizer use not only increased yields, but also improved the quality of the fruit to make matooke -- a popular local delicacy made from steamed bananas.

The evaluation showed that fertilizer treatment actually improved the appearance, odor, texture, and overall acceptability of the steamed bananas.

Although the study showed proof of the positive effect of fertilizers on banana production, van Asten cautions that fertilizer use has to be very strategic. For example, the practice only becomes more profitable when it is specific to a crop and a region, and targeted at only those nutrients that are most deficient.

"Most farmers follow blanket fertilizer recommendations which can be very inefficient and therefore expensive. Farmers should apply only as much nutrient as needed for a realistic yield increase for their specific locality," he says.

He adds that another consideration is distance to the markets. "Bananas are perishable and costly to transport because of their bulkiness. One needs to be close to the market to fetch a really good price," he says. "Uganda's production zones are too far from markets, some more than 150 kilometers away. This leads to low banana prices at the farm gate. Fertilizer use in such cases becomes risky and, therefore, may not be recommended."

Fertilizers also help replace lost soil nutrients. For example, the study estimated that more than 1.5 million tons of potassium (K) are removed from the rural areas where the bananas are grown and transported to Kampala where most of the markets are. These nutrients are mined by farmers, but not immediately replaced. Over time, this nutrient mining could diminish the soil's ability to sustain profitable banana production.

To guide East African highland banana farmers, IITA and its partners have developed several site-specific recommendations for the application of fertilizer based on the region and the distance to markets. The institute is also encouraging the private, public, and non-government sectors to address fertilizer packaging to suit the specific needs of farmers.

Science Daily

Second phase of cassava value-adding project underway in eastern and southern Africa

Cassava has long been known, albeit wrongly, as a poor man’s crop. Not many are aware of its importance as raw material in the textile, food, pharmaceutical, packaging, and cosmetics industries. In countries of sub-Saharan Africa where cassava is commonly grown, its alternative uses could spur economic growth and development.

A four-year project funded by the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) and implemented by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) hopes to realize this potential through the promotion of the production and use of High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF).

The US$4.5 million initiative covers Zambia, Madagascar, and Tanzania, and will be supervised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

At the project’s launch on 2 -3 February in Lusaka, Zambia, Dr Abass Adebayo, IITA cassava value chain specialist and the project’s regional coordinator said the project will work with 9000 small-scale farmers and processors in the three countries to produce and sell HQCF.

The farmers will be provided with improved high-yielding varieties and training on good agricultural practices and processing of cassava.

The project follows up a similar one implemented from 2003 to 2007. In that project, smallholder farmers and farmer groups were introduced to simple market-oriented technologies to transform highly-perishable fresh cassava into stable value-added products such as chips and HQCF.

“In many countries, cassava is perceived as a subsistence crop. This project hopes to change this by developing its income-generating potential,” says Watson Mwale, Director of Zambia Agricultural Research Institute (ZARI). He invited all intending entrepreneurs in the cassava sector to join the project to make their dreams come true.

Ralaivoa Solange, an R&D manager with Biscuiterie JB, a biscuit-making factory in Madagascar, who was also at the forum said the company had previously used blended flour containing 25-30% cassava flour to make biscuits and wafers.

“They were accepted by the consumers and the company was saving money,” she said. “However, we stopped after a year as the supply was not regular and the quality was not consistent. The cassava flour was supplied by small scale processors and farmers using sun-drying method."

Adebayo said to overcome this, the second phase of the project will follow a two-step production process. At the village level, farmers and small scale processors will grate and extract water from the cassava to form a semi-dry grit with a longer shelf-life which will then be transported to higher scale industries for mechanical drying using flash driers, milling, grading, and packaging into HQCF for sale to end users such as Biscuiterie JB.

The project intends to transit smallholder farmers from subsistence production to commercial production of cassava and fully integrate small-scale processors into the industrialized supply chain.

National partners working with IITA include ZARI in Zambia, the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) in Tanzania, and the National Center for Applied Research on Rural Development (FOFIFA) in Madagascar.

IITA

Yam research in West & Central Africa gets EU funding support

Research to improve and promote yam in West and Central Africa (WCA) has received a €750,000 (about US$1 million) grant from the European Union-African, Caribbean and Pacific Science and Technology Program (EU-ACP). The program will benefit six WCA countries: Cameroon, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo.

The support comes amidst renewed global interest on yam as a vital income and food security crop in Africa.

The research project tagged, “Strengthening Capacity for Yam Research-for-Development in Central and Western Africa (SCYReC)” aims to improve the capacity for yam research-for-development in the region.

The project will help find sustainable solutions, through science and technology, to the challenges facing the crop and exploit its tremendous potential for food security and poverty alleviation.

IITA will manage and implement the project in collaboration with a team of national partners in 13 research institutions in the six countries.

“This is something good for the region where yam plays an important role in nutrition and economic well-being of the people,” says David Annang, IITA-SCYReC Project Coordinator. “We are hopeful that the project will tackle the many challenges facing increased yam production,” he adds.

Despite its contribution to food security, yam faces a plethora of limitations among which are high costs of planting material and of labor, decreasing soil fertility, inadequate yield potential of varieties, as well as the increasing levels of field and storage pests and diseases associated with intensification of cultivation.

The labor requirements in yam cultivation for mounding, staking, especially in the forest zone, weeding, and harvesting exceed those for other starchy staples such as cassava. These account for about 40% of yam production costs while 50% of the expenditure goes to planting materials. The seed yams are also perishable and bulky to transport. If farmers do not buy new seed yams, they must set aside up to 30% of their harvest for planting the next year.

The EU-ACP-funded project, therefore, seeks to tackle these challenges by helping in the development of a framework for yam research-for-development in WCA. It will also build and increase the capacities of partners, and provide a platform for increased documentation and dissemination of information from yam research and development.

IITA to conduct training on banana diseases, January 2009, Rwanda

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) will conduct a training on disease surveillance and control methods to help build the capacity of national partners to combat deadly banana diseases that are wreaking havoc across sub-Saharan Africa and threatening the livelihoods and food security of over 70 million people.

The training, though covering all the major banana diseases in the region, will especially focus on the Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD). Staff from national research institutions and government bodies from Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia will be trained on recognition of disease symptoms in the field and disease confirmation using biotechnology tools in the laboratory.

Participants will also be trained on spatial disease surveillance methods using Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS) and the development of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) maps showing the presence and spread of the diseases. Hein Bouwmeester, IITA Geographical Information Systems (GIS) expert based in Tanzania, will facilitate this section of the training.

The workshop will also forge links between ongoing and planned surveillance activities for Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW), another deadly disease, to create a regional disease surveillance network.

Dr Fen Beed, IITA Plant Pathologist and coordinator of the training, says that BBTD and BXW are of great concern because they are easily transmitted through infected planting material and certain insects. As no banana varieties are known to be resistant to the diseases, all familiar banana types - cooking, juicing, dessert and plantain - are in danger of being wiped out if urgent action is not taken.

Beed adds that the training concentrates on the seven countries because there have been reports of the presence of BBTD or they are at high risk of contracting the disease from neighboring countries. For instance, he says, southwest Uganda is in danger of getting BBTD as the disease is present in northern Rwanda and eastern DR Congo.

"Where a disease is not yet present but is likely to be introduced, an effective surveillance system increases awareness of the disease symptoms and the chances of the disease being reported by farmers and their representatives when it does arrive" he explains. "Early detection permits destruction of infected plants to prevent disease establishment and spread."

He adds, "where a disease has been reported and confirmed, the use of GPS-linked spatial surveillance helps to specify its presence across a targeted region. It determines whether only a single plant is infected, or one small area, or across the region."






BBTD is a viral disease that results in narrow bunched leaves and stunted fruitless plants, which eventually die. It is very difficult to identify in newly infected plants and is often missed by farmers and government agencies in the region resulting in its unabated spread. Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) is a bacterial disease that causes yellowing and wilting of the leaves, uneven and premature ripening of the fruits and eventually, the plants rot to their death. The symptoms are often confused with those of the panama disease and nutrient deficiencies.




The training is organized by IITA in collaboration with the Rwanda Agriculture Development Authority (RADA) and the Rwandan Agricultural Research Institute (Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda - ISAR), and funded by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It will be held from 25 to 29 January 2010 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Following the training, the participants will carry out a series of targeted surveys to establish the distribution of BBTD, funded by FAO.

###

For more information, please contact:

Dr Fen Beed, f.beed@cgiar.org
Plant Pathologist (East, Central and Southern Africa),
IITA-Uganda

Catherine Njuguna, c.njuguna@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (Eastern and Southern Africa)
IITA – Regional hub for East and Southern Africa
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Jeffrey T. Oliver, o.jeffrey@cgiar.org
Corporate Communications Officer (International)
Communication Office
IITA - Headquarters
Ibadan, Nigeria

Gates Foundation to fund cassava disease research in East Africa

by Mike Mande


The fight against cassava diseases in sub Saharan Africa has received a $2.4 boost from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in partnership with the Agricultural Research Institute of Tanzania and the National Agricultural Research Organisation of Uganda.

The funding will be used to breed cassava varieties resistant to cassava brown streak disease. The disease, which is caused by the cassava brown streak virus and results in a dry rot in the tuberous roots rendering them inedible, is one of greatest threats to food security in sub-Saharan Africa as cassava is an important staple food from which over 200 million people derive over 50 per cent of their carbohydrate intake.

IITA and ARI have identified a few varieties with some level of resistance to the disease. The four-year project, under financial assistance from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks to identify the DNA markers associated with the resistance genes in these varieties and integrate marker-assisted selection into cassava breeding programmes.

Marker-assisted breeding will enable the breeders to determine whether the desired genes of the disease resistance have been successfully transferred from the parents to the offspring at the seedling stage using DNA testing.

According to the team project leader at IITA Dr Morag Ferguson, the breeding for disease-resistant cassava is the most cost-effective and sustainable way to control the devastating effects of the virus. Ferguson said that conventional breeding takes eight to 12 years to produce improved varieties.

The project will enable one of the first applications of marker-assisted selection for cassava breeding by the National Agricultural Research Systems in Tanzania and Uganda.

The markers identified will also be applicable to all countries either struggling with the disease, or concerned with pre-breeding in anticipation of the spread of the virus.

Dr. Lawrence Kent, Senior Program Officer in the Agricultural Development initiative at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said that the diseases like Cassava Brown Streak have devastating impacts on small scale farmers in the developing world who rely on staple crops for food and income.

Kent said that by leveraging recently discovered scientific information, this project will enable African crop breeders to create enhanced varieties of cassava that are resilient to local diseases.

This grant is part of the foundation’s Agricultural Development initiative, which is working with a wide range of partners in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to provide millions of small farmers in the developing world with tools and opportunities to boost their yields, increase their incomes, and build better lives for themselves and their families.

The foundation is working to strengthen the entire agricultural value chain-from seeds and soil to farm management and market access-so that progress against hunger and poverty is sustainable over the long term.

The East African

IITA promotes new cowpea storage method

by Salma Ahmad Kano

Cowpeas are of vital importance to the diets and livelihood of millions of people in West and Central Africa. But the crop is notoriously difficult to store - beetles and other pests can destroy an entire granary full of cowpeas within 12 months.

Rural families in Nigeria grow cowpeas for sale, for their own consumption and feed animals on the husk of the bean. The black-eyed beans are known to contribute to soil fertility by providing ground cover and useful plant residues, fixing nitrogen, and suppressing weeds.

Cowpeas are an important staple food in northern Nigeria and beyond. Across the country the beans are made into a deep-fried dumpling (known in Hausa as kosai', in Yoruba as akara). Another favourite is a pudding known as alala.

Cowpeas provide an inexpensive source of protein for both rural poor and urban consumers. Research by Ricardo Bressani in 1985 revealed that the grain contains about 25 percent protein and 64 percent carbohydrate and so it has a tremendous potential to contribute to the alleviation of malnutrition among resource-poor farmers.

A superb plant then.

Except that about twenty people were hospitalised and another ten died in just the month of September in just the northern Nigerian state of Kano, after eating beans contaminated by farmers in an attempt to protect them from pests in storage.

"We have a lot of cases of food poisoning due to chemical storage, leading to what is commonly called 'killer beans'. Because many farmers don’t have functional storage facilities and do not receive the full value of their cowpea harvest," said Dr Tahirou Abdoulaye, a representative of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture. The IITA has developed a new, safe method of storage.

It's so difficult to protect cowpeas from beetles and other pests, that farmers typically sell their harvest as early as possible to offload the risk; but this means they get a low price as they sell at harvest time, when the market is flooded.

Ahmed Abubakar, a farmer at Gabasawa village about 130 kilometres from the city of Kano who has been growing cowpeas for years said he has been storing his beans using insecticides which he admitted were poisonous when misused.

He said officials from the Kano State Agriculture and Rural Development Agency had on many occasions informed him and other farmers in the area that the pesticides and insectides were harmful if used for food storage, but there was no alternative method to store the product. He said that he sometimes stored the harvest in plastic bags, but that this failed to protect it.

The Institute of International Tropical Agriculture (IITA), has recently developed a new technology for storing cowpeas without chemicals.

Over the last two decades, the IITA has made significant advances in improving the productivity of cowpea in sub-Saharan Africa, developing a number of varieties with different maturity periods, ability to outcompete weeds, increased resistance to diseases and pests and other desirable agronomic traits.

But storage is a problem that threatens to erase any gains in productivity. Abubakar revealed that every year, he loses more than 1000 kg of his crop, which he usually seals off in 50 kilogramme capacity bags.

Dr Abdoulaye says his institute will be rolling out a new method, known as the Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS), in Nigeria during the final quarter of 2009. The aim is to see at least half of all cowpeas stored using the new method across West and Central Africa by 2011.

PICS is a straightforward idea: seal the bags up in hermetically-sealed plastic that does not allow air in, limiting the survival of insects that damage cowpeas. "This simply eliminates the need to use any chemicals for storage," says Abdoulaye.

Each PICS bag, which will be available from licensed vendors, consists of two high-density polyethylene plastic bags, and an outer sack of nylon that protects them. Abdoulaye explains that any insects sealed in with the beans will quickly use up all the air in the sealed bag and then it can be stored safely for eight to 12 months without being damaged by insects.

Training on the use of the new technology will focus on women farmers, and a special demonstration would be conducted in villages just for the benefit of the women farmers, who take the lead in the most crucial phases of processing and preparing cowpeas, as well as storage.

It is expected that about 40 women technicians trained by the Institute will continue to work with women farmers across the 12 northern states of Nigeria to increase female farmers' access to the technology.

Abdoulaye also said the project was developing a distribution network of PICS sacks in Nigeria, saying distribution will provide business opportunities to sack manufacturers, distributors and vendors.

The IITA official therefore revealed that the PICS project and its partners have identified with the efforts of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control toward helping Nigerian consumers in getting safe cowpeas to eat.

Abdoulaye finally disclosed that to protect the users from getting the fake product, the institute only gave one accredited vendor the technology for production and sale, advising that farmers must obtain from the vendors to be sure of getting authentic and effective bags.

IPS

IITA develops bio-pesticide to save African cabbage

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has announced the development of a bio-pesticide for the control of a moth which ravages African cabbage.

IITA, based in Nigeria's southwest city of Ibadan, said in a statement that the Beauveria bassiana, developed by the scientists at the institute has recorded a huge success in the control of the pest.

``Resource-poor farmers said the bio-control method has proved effective in controlling insect pest that has devastated both smallholder and large scale cabbage farms in Africa," it said.

According to it, cabbages are among the most important vegetables in Africa in general and Benin Republic in particular, especially for lower income farmers.

``The importance of this vegetable is probably greater as it acts as a stream of income among farmers most affected by poverty, including small farmers, youth, and most especially, women who paradoxically play an important role in agricultural production," it said.

Eaten daily, either raw in salads, steamed, boiled or fried, cabbages serve as important cash-generating crops.

The institute said in spite of the importance of the crop, destructions by the moth on cabbage farms had forced thousands of farmers in West Africa to abandon cabbage production for other crops.

``The situation is worsened by the high costs associated with synthetic pesticide that serves as a chemical control option," IITA said, noting that chemical control of the pest on a global scale cost about US$1billion annually, with a package of health and environmental risks, which include pollution, destruction/death of non-target organisms including useful insects and therefore the reduction of biodiversity.

``But the good news is that the biopesticide B. bassiana in an integrated pest management approach offers a solution to sustainable control of the moth. Majority of farmers who abandoned cabbage cultivation for other crops are now requesting the bio-pesticide to make a come back but the problem is the availability of the product," the institute said.

Afriquejet

IITA steps up efforts to save African cassava

The International Insti tute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), in partnership with the Institut de Recherche Agronomique de Guinee (IRAG), stepped up efforts to save native African cassava varieties from genetic erosion with the collection of 73 local cassava varieties from Guinea Conakry. The varieties are now conserved under ex situ conditions at the IITA-Genetic Resources Center in Ibadan, Nigeria. They will form part of a safety collection to safeguard the continent’s plant genetic resources.

“The conservation of local cassava varieties provides hope for future cassava breeding programs and helps guarantee food security in Africa,” says Dr. Dominique Dumet, Head of the GRC and Coordinator of the collecting mission.

The collecting mission was co-funded by IITA, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and IRAG-Guinea Conakry. Many local varieties of cassava, a major staple in Africa and a buffer against food crisis, are threatened by genetic erosion — a process whereby an already limited gene pool of an endangered species of plant or animal diminishes even more when individuals from the surviving population die off without getting a chance to breed within their endangered low population.

“In Guinea Conakry, for instance, about seven local cassava varieties are fast disappearing. This is risky especially for cassava that is a clonal crop,” according to Mr. Paul Ilona, IITA Senior International Trials Manager.

Both local and improved cassava varieties alike create a robust gene pool, offering choices for breeders in future breeding programs. However, the loss of genes due to the extinction of some local varieties might limit future cassava improvement programs. Besides, the endangered varieties might even hold key traits that could offer possible solutions to hunger and poverty in the future.

Ilona says the loss of native cassava varieties might limit the number of genes available for breeders to work with. “As breeders, anytime we lose (crop) genes, it hurts. That is why the conservation of native cassava varieties at the GRC is important to us,” he says.

Apart from cassava, the IITA-GRC holds over 25 000 accessions of major African food crops, including cowpea, yam, soybean, bambara nut, maize, and plantain and banana.

The accessions are held in trust on behalf of humanity under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organisation. IITA shares these accessions without restriction for use in research for food and agriculture.

The collecting mission in Guinea Conakry makes it the fourth country, after Angola, Togo and Benin Republic, to allow IITA to collect and share their germplasm with other countries, since the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture went into force in June 2004.

The Vanguard

Gene developed through conventional breeding to improve cowpea aphid resistance

Disease and particularly aphids, which can wreck a crop within a few a days, are especially bad luck for the cowpea or black-eyed pea, according to scientists. Several new lines of cowpeas with genes that are aphid-resistant and less susceptible to disease are currently being tested by researchers with Texas AgriLife and other Texas A&M System entities.

"The cowpea has been an important and popular food crop throughout the southern U.S.," said Dr. B.B. Singh, a visiting professor in the soil and crop sciences department at Texas A&M. "It's commonly known as the southern pea, field pea, crowder pea, black-eyed pea, purple-hull pea and pinkeye pea widely grown in the southern states."

The researchers' discoveries could yield big rewards. An international food crop, the cowpea was most popular in the southern U.S. from the 1930s through '70s, and East Texas remains a large U.S. cowpea-producing region.

And during times of drought, the cowpea can be a viable alternative forage crop for livestock producers, due to its ability to fix nitrogen, tolerate drought and provide high-quality fodder, Singh said. It is a high-quality forage for cattle producers, with a protein content as high as 28 percent in seeds and 17 percent to 20 percent in the fodder after harvesting the seeds.

However, the aphid is currently the biggest threat to cowpea producers, Singh said.

"(Aphids) like dry weather," explained Singh, who has spent his entire career studying the cowpea. "Immediately after infestation, they start sucking the juice (sap) from cowpea leaves, stem, flowers and pods of the plants reducing their growth and development and causing severe reduction in yield. They also spread viruses. Aphids can ruin a crop within a few days."

Singh, came to the department as a visiting professor following his retirement two years ago from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, considered the epicenter of cowpea research.

At Texas A&M, Singh is working with colleagues Dr. J. Creighton Miller, D.C. Sheuring and Dr. Bill Payne using field trials in College Station to find a solution to the aphid problem.

Singh has brought more than 35 lines of cowpeas with drought and aphid tolerance, as well as resistance to other diseases and higher yield potential, to College Station. His work there has involved using conventional breeding methods to cross those lines with six Texas and California varieties in greenhouse and field settings.

"Many of the IITA lines are resistant to aphid, bacterial blight, powdery mildew and drought, whereas most of the U.S. lines are susceptible," Singh said. "A number of crosses were made to transfer the resistance to aphids and drought from the IITA lines to the U.S. lines."

In mid July, an aphid infestation hit the College Station trials, putting the new varieties to the test.

"It's been fairly severe, permitting selection of resistant plants from the F2 and F3 populations," he said. "Due to drought and aphids this crop season, all of the susceptible cowpea varieties and segregating plants have been completely damaged, showing 80 percent to 100 percent yield loss, while the aphid resistant varieties and segregating plants are completely healthy with normal yield. The resistance is simply inherited, very effective and highly stable across environments."

From the segregating populations, the resistant plants with diverse maturity dates, plant type, growth habits and seed types have been selected to meet the need for grain type, fodder-type and pasture-type cowpea varieties, he said.

"These are being advanced to achieve uniformity and multi-location testing for stability of resistance and yield potential," Singh added. The new aphid-resistant, high-yielding varieties could be available to farmers as early as 2011, Singh said.

"The cowpea has worldwide importance as a crop for both human and animal nutrition," said Payne of Texas AgriLife Research, assistant director for research at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture. "Introducing improved disease- and drought-resistant and higher-yield varieties could not only have tremendous potential for Texas and U.S. agriculture, it could help provide poor and developing countries with an important alternative source of nutrition."

According to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Africa, the cowpea is an important food crop in many African, Asian and South American countries, especially as an alternative source of protein where people cannot afford meat and fish. The crop typically is grown by subsistence farmers with limited agricultural resources, who use it to feed livestock or sell for additional income.

The international Food and Agriculture Organization estimates more than 7.5 million tons of cowpeas are produced annually worldwide, with sub-Saharan Africa responsible for about 70 percent of that amount.

"We are already involved in international research projects in Africa relating to cowpeas," Payne noted. "It's exciting to think where these new activities in College Station and the research already under way in Africa may lead."

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