scholarly journals The role of biotechnology for agricultural sustainability in Africa

2007 ◽  
Vol 363 (1492) ◽  
pp. 905-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Upland Rice ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Cassava Mosaic Virus ◽  
Streak Virus ◽  
Sweet Potatoes ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Resistant Varieties ◽  
Sub Saharan

Sub-Saharan Africa could have a shortfall of nearly 90 Mt of cereals by the year 2025 if current agricultural practices are maintained. Biotechnology is one of the ways to improve agricultural production. Insect-resistant varieties of maize and cotton suitable for the subcontinent have been identified as already having a significant impact. Virus-resistant crops are under development. These include maize resistant to the African endemic maize streak virus and cassava resistant to African cassava mosaic virus. Parasitic weeds such as Striga attack the roots of crops such as maize, millet, sorghum and upland rice. Field trials in Kenya using a variety of maize resistant to a herbicide have proven very successful. Drought-tolerant crops are also under development as are improved varieties of local African crops such as bananas, cassava, sorghum and sweet potatoes.

scholarly journals Implications of Climate Change on Soil Functions: A Case for Achieving Local Coconut Sufficiency from Sustainable Agricultural Practices

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinedu Egbunike ◽  
Nonso Okoye ◽  
Okoroji-Nma Okechukwu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Soil Functions ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Sustainable Agricultural Practices

Climate change is a major threat to agricultural food production globally and locally. It poses both direct and indirect effects on soil functions. Thus, agricultural management practices has evolved to adaptation strategies in order to mitigate the risks and threats from climate change. The study concludes with a recommendation the coconut farmers should explore the idea of soil biodiversity in a bid to mitigate the potential negative impact of climate related risk on the farming. The study proffers the need for adopting sustainable agricultural practices to boost local coconut production. This can contribute to the simultaneous realisation of two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations: SDG 2 on food security and sustainable agriculture and SDG 13 on action to combat climate change and its impacts. The study findings has implications for tackling climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa and in particular Nigeria in order to boost local agricultural production and coconut in particular without negative environmental consequences and an ability to cope with climate change related risks.

scholarly journals Efficacy of a cry1Ab Gene for Control of Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in Cowpea (Fabales: Fabaceae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 974-979
Author(s):  
Prince C Addae ◽  
Mohammad F Ishiyaku ◽  
Jean-Batiste Tignegre ◽  
Malick N Ba ◽  
Joseph B Bationo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Insect Pests ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Maruca Vitrata ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Cry1ab Protein ◽  
Cry1ab Gene ◽  
Pod Borer ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp.] is an important staple legume in the diet of many households in sub-Saharan Africa. Its production, however, is negatively impacted by many insect pests including bean pod borer, Maruca vitrata F., which can cause 20–80% yield loss. Several genetically engineered cowpea events that contain a cry1Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) for resistance against M. vitrata were evaluated in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Ghana (West Africa), where cowpea is commonly grown. As part of the regulatory safety package, these efficacy data were developed and evaluated by in-country scientists. The Bt-cowpea lines were planted in confined field trials under Insect-proof netting and artificially infested with up to 500 M. vitrata larvae per plant during bud formation and flowering periods. Bt-cowpea lines provided nearly complete pod and seed protection and in most cases resulted in significantly increased seed yield over non-Bt control lines. An integrated pest management strategy that includes use of Bt-cowpea augmented with minimal insecticide treatment for protection against other insects is recommended to control pod borer to enhance cowpea production. The insect resistance management plan is based on the high-dose refuge strategy where non-Bt-cowpea and natural refuges are expected to provide M. vitrata susceptible to Cry1Ab protein. In addition, there will be a limited release of this product until a two-toxin cowpea pyramid is released. Other than South African genetically engineered crops, Bt-cowpea is the first genetically engineered food crop developed by the public sector and approved for release in sub-Saharan Africa.

Evaluation of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) germplasm lines for tolerance to drought

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian A. Fatokun ◽  
Ousmane Boukar ◽  
Satoru Muranaka
Keyword(s):  
Drought Tolerance ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Grain Legume ◽  
International Institute ◽  
Breeding Lines ◽  
Germplasm Collections ◽  
Legume Crop ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Cowpea Varieties ◽  
Sub Saharan

Cowpea is an important grain legume crop in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where, on a worldwide basis, the bulk is produced and consumed. The dry savanna area of SSA is where cowpea is mostly grown under rain-fed conditions. The crop is therefore prone to drought which may occur early, mid and/or late in the cropping season. Compared with many other crops, cowpea is drought tolerant, even though drought is still a major constraint limiting its productivity in SSA. Increasing the level of drought tolerance in existing cowpea varieties grown by farmers would enable them to obtain more and stable yield from their cowpea fields. As a first step towards enhancing drought tolerance in existing cowpea varieties, 1288 lines were selected randomly from cowpea germplasm collections maintained at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, and evaluated for their drought tolerance at Ibadan. Drought was imposed by withdrawal of irrigation from 5 weeks after sowing. On average, drought reduced the number of days to flower by 12 d, and the mean grain yield per plant was also reduced by 67.28%. A few of the cowpea lines stayed green for up to 6 weeks after irrigation was stopped, even though some of these produced no pods when the study was terminated. Further evaluation in the screenhouse of 142 selected drought-tolerant lines helped to identify six lines that could be potential parents for developing breeding lines with enhanced drought tolerance.

scholarly journals A rep-based hairpin inhibits replication of diverse maize streak virus isolates in a transient assay

2011 ◽  
Vol 92 (10) ◽  
pp. 2458-2465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty E. Owor ◽  
Darren P. Martin ◽  
Edward P. Rybicki ◽  
Jennifer A. Thomson ◽  
Marion E. Bezuidenhout ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virus Replication ◽  
Inverted Repeat ◽  
Virus Genome ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Transcriptional Gene Silencing ◽  
Streak Virus ◽  
Transient Expression Assay ◽  
Specific Pcr ◽  
Post Transcriptional Gene Silencing ◽  
Sub Saharan

Maize streak disease, caused by the A strain of the African endemic geminivirus, maize streak mastrevirus (MSV-A), threatens the food security and livelihoods of subsistence farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Using a well-established transient expression assay, this study investigated the potential of a spliceable-intron hairpin RNA (hpRNA) approach to interfere with MSV replication. Two strategies were explored: (i) an inverted repeat of a 662 bp region of the MSV replication-associated protein gene (rep), which is essential for virus replication and is therefore a good target for post-transcriptional gene silencing; and (ii) an inverted repeat of the viral long intergenic region (LIR), considered for its potential to trigger transcriptional silencing of the viral promoter region. After co-bombardment of cultured maize cells with each construct and an infectious partial dimer of the cognate virus genome (MSV-Kom), followed by viral replicative-form-specific PCR, it was clear that, whilst the hairpin rep construct (pHPrepΔI662) completely inhibited MSV replication, the LIR hairpin construct was ineffective in this regard. In addition, pHPrepΔI662 inhibited or reduced replication of six MSV-A genotypes representing the entire breadth of known MSV-A diversity. Further investigation by real-time PCR revealed that the pHPrepΔI662 inverted repeat was 22-fold more effective at reducing virus replication than a construct containing the sense copy, whilst the antisense copy had no effect on replication when compared with the wild type. This is the first indication that an hpRNA strategy targeting MSV rep has the potential to protect transgenic maize against diverse MSV-A genotypes found throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Nitrogen effect on the incidence of Strigahermonthica (Del.) Benth in upland rice

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Adagba ◽  
S. T. O. Lagoke ◽  
E. D. Imolehin
Keyword(s):  
Significant Interaction ◽  
Upland Rice ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Striga Hermonthica ◽  
Ecological Zone ◽  
Rice Varieties ◽  
Northern Guinea Savanna ◽  
Nitrogen Effect ◽  
Resistant Varieties ◽  
Nitrogen Rates

Field trials were conducted in the dry (Experiment I) and wet (Experiment II) seasons of 1997 at Samaru (11°11' N, 7°38' E, 686 m above sea level) in the northern Guinea Savanna ecological zone of Nigeria to study the effects of nitrogen rates on the reaction of upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties to Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. The results indicate that FARO 48, a variety normally susceptible to Striga hermonthica, exhibited resistance. FARO 11 exhibited tolerance, while FARO 38, FARO 46 and FARO 45 exhibited susceptibility. The application of 90 and 120 kg N/ha delayed and reduced Striga emergence on the crop, induced a low crop reaction score and produced grain yields that were the maximum or significantly higher than the least. No significant differences in Striga infestation were observed between nitrogen rates of 30-120 kg N/ha. The significant interaction between upland rice varieties and nitrogen rates indicates that the susceptible varieties require higher rates of nitrogen to ameliorate the effect of Striga compared with the resistant varieties.

Breaking up the bottlenecks in food-crop and cotton cultivation in northern Côte d'Ivoire

Africa ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Bassett
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Food Crop ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Rural Producers ◽  
Peasant Resistance ◽  
Peasant Farmers

IntroductionIt is widely recognised that seasonal labour bottlenecks present major obstacles to peasant farmers seeking to expand agricultural output in sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence from Nigeria and Sierra Leone, for example, reveals that labour shortages and limited income to hire off-farm labour have historically constrained rural producers from intensifying and enlarging their agricultural operations (Norman et al., 1979: 42–7; Watts, 1983: 202–3; Richards, 1985: 96). Many attempts by colonial and contemporary African States to promote food crop and export crop production failed, in part, because of peasant resistance to the threat of subsistence insecurity associated with labour conflicts in the agricultural calendar. Richards's (1986) study of the failure of a series of labour-intensive wet rice cultivation projects in central Sierra Leone illustrates the degree to which peasant agricultural practices represent adjustments to labour-supply problems. Given the pervasiveness and importance of seasonal labour constraints in African agricultural systems, it is surprising that ‘few studies have provided insights into the adjustment in labor use resulting from the introduction of cash crops and new technologies’ (Eicher and Baker, 1982: 99).

scholarly journals Agriculture and food systems in sub-Saharan Africa in a 4 ° C+ world

2011 ◽  
Vol 369 (1934) ◽  
pp. 117-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip K. Thornton ◽  
Peter G. Jones ◽  
Polly J. Ericksen ◽  
Andrew J. Challinor
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Commodity Price ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Agriculture And Food

Agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa faces daunting challenges, which climate change and increasing climate variability will compound in vulnerable areas. The impacts of a changing climate on agricultural production in a world that warms by 4 ° C or more are likely to be severe in places. The livelihoods of many croppers and livestock keepers in Africa are associated with diversity of options. The changes in crop and livestock production that are likely to result in a 4 ° C+ world will diminish the options available to most smallholders. In such a world, current crop and livestock varieties and agricultural practices will often be inadequate, and food security will be more difficult to achieve because of commodity price increases and local production shortfalls. While adaptation strategies exist, considerable institutional and policy support will be needed to implement them successfully on the scale required. Even in the 2 ° C+ world that appears inevitable, planning for and implementing successful adaptation strategies are critical if agricultural growth in the region is to occur, food security be achieved and household livelihoods be enhanced. As part of this effort, better understanding of the critical thresholds in global and African food systems requires urgent research.

scholarly journals Validation of large-volume batch solar reactors for the treatment of rainwater in field trials in sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 717 ◽  
pp. 137223 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Reyneke ◽  
T. Ndlovu ◽  
M.B. Vincent ◽  
A. Martínez-García ◽  
M.I. Polo-López ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Volume ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Solar Reactors
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document