How big is the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield gap in Sub-Saharan Africa and why? A participatory approach

Abstract According to potato experts from ten Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries working together in a community of practice (CoP) over a 3-years period, potato farmers across SSA can increase their current annual production of 10.8 million metric tons by 140% if they had access to high quality seed along with improved management practices. This paper describes this innovative new methodology tested on potato for the first time, combining modelling and a comprehensive online survey through a CoP. The intent was to overcome the paucity of experimental information required for crop modelling. Researchers, whose data contributed to estimating model parameters, participated in the study using Solanum, a crop model developed by the International Potato Center (CIP). The first finding was that model parameters estimated through participatory modelling using experts’ knowledge were good approximations of those obtained experimentally. The estimated yield gap was 58 Mg ha-1, of which 35 corresponded to a research gap (potential yield minus research yield) and 24 to farmers’ gap (research yield minus farmer’s yield). Over a 6-month period, SurveyMonkey, a Web-based platform was used to assess yield gap drivers. The survey revealed that poor quality seed and bacterial wilt were the main yield gap drivers as perceived by survey respondents.

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PO 8471 A SURVEY OF CURRENT CLINICAL DATA MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

BMJ Global Health ◽

10.1136/bmjgh-2019-edc.109 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (Suppl 3) ◽

pp. A41.3-A42

Author(s):

Hanne Landuyt ◽

Harry Van Loen ◽

Bai L Dondeh ◽

Badou M Gaye ◽

Yven Van Herrewege

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Clinical Data ◽

Online Survey ◽

Management Practices ◽

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Management Tools ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Personalised Feedback

BackgroundInformation on clinical data management (CDM) practices in clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa is scarce. As part of ALERRT (the African coalition for Epidemic Research, Response and Training, an EDCTP-funded project) we want to gauge current CDM and ICT practices and identify possible gaps within different research institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. This information will be used to develop a scalable, GCP-compliant, robust CDM/ICT infrastructure suitable for resource-poor settings and response-ready in the event of an outbreak.MethodsAn online survey was designed to assess the experience of the participating sites with the various CDM processes, CDM documentation and facilities, the availability of dedicated staff and their experience with GCP. In addition, ICT features essential to CDM will be assessed. Lastly, information on the use of CDM software will be obtained. Respondents can request to receive personalised feedback (aimed to improve their CDM practices) based on their results. The survey, in English and French, will be sent out to 100 sites in sub-Saharan Africa. Sites with intermittent internet connections will receive an MS-Office Word-version of the survey.ResultsThe survey will be closed after a month. Personalised feedback (if requested) will be sent to the respondents. Descriptive analysis of the survey results will be done, and results will be used to design standard data management tools, tailored to the needs of research sites in sub-Saharan Africa and suitable for emergency research. Both results and tools will be disseminated to the scientific community.ConclusionThe results of this survey will provide relevant information on the current CDM and ICT practices in sub-Saharan Africa. Potential pitfalls will be identified and opportunities for improvement will be addressed. Furthermore, the survey will offer a chance to exchange ideas between African and European partners on how to implement good CDM and ICT practices.

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Distribution and Molecular Diversity of Whitefly Species Colonizing Cassava in Kenya

Insects ◽

10.3390/insects12100875 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (10) ◽

pp. 875

Author(s):

Florence M. Munguti ◽

Dora C. Kilalo ◽

Evans N. Nyaboga ◽

Everlyne N. Wosula ◽

Isaac Macharia ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bemisia Tabaci ◽

Management Practices ◽

Mosaic Disease ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Cassava Mosaic Disease ◽

Limited Information ◽

Potential Yield ◽

Aleurodicus Dispersus ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Impact

The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadium, Hemiptera) has been reported to transmit viruses that cause cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Currently, there is limited information on the distribution, species and haplotype composition of the whitefly populations colonizing cassava in Kenya. A study was conducted in the major cassava growing regions of Kenya to address this gap. Analyses of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase 1 (mtCO1) sequences revealed the presence of four distinct whitefly species: Bemisia tabaci, Bemisia afer, Aleurodicus dispersus and Paraleyrodes bondari in Kenya. The B. tabaci haplotypes were further resolved into SSA1, SSA2 and Indian Ocean (IO) putative species. The SSA1 population had three haplogroups of SSA1-SG1, SSA-SG2 and SSA1-SG3. Application of KASP genotyping grouped the Bemisia tabaci into two haplogroups namely sub-Saharan Africa East and Southern Africa (SSA-ESA) and sub-Saharan Africa East and Central Africa (SSA-ECA). The study presents the first report of P. bondari (Bondar’s nesting whitefly) on cassava in Kenya. Bemisia tabaci was widely distributed in all the major cassava growing regions in Kenya. The increased detection of different whitefly species on cassava and genetically diverse B. tabaci mitotypes indicates a significant influence on the dynamics of cassava virus epidemics in the field. The study highlights the need for continuous monitoring of invasive whitefly species population on cassava for timely application of management practices to reduce the impact of cassava viral diseases and prevent potential yield losses.

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Precision Agriculture for Resource Use Efficiency in Smallholder Farming Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13031158 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 1158

Author(s):

Cecilia M. Onyango ◽

Justine M. Nyaga ◽

Johanna Wetterlind ◽

Mats Söderström ◽

Kristin Piikki

Keyword(s):

Resource Use ◽

Precision Agriculture ◽

Large Scale ◽

English Language ◽

Management Practices ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Smallholder Farming ◽

Sub Saharan

Opportunities exist for adoption of precision agriculture technologies in all parts of the world. The form of precision agriculture may vary from region to region depending on technologies available, knowledge levels and mindsets. The current review examined research articles in the English language on precision agriculture practices for increased productivity among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 7715 articles were retrieved and after screening 128 were reviewed. The results indicate that a number of precision agriculture technologies have been tested under SSA conditions and show promising results. The most promising precision agriculture technologies identified were the use of soil and plant sensors for nutrient and water management, as well as use of satellite imagery, GIS and crop-soil simulation models for site-specific management. These technologies have been shown to be crucial in attainment of appropriate management strategies in terms of efficiency and effectiveness of resource use in SSA. These technologies are important in supporting sustainable agricultural development. Most of these technologies are, however, at the experimental stage, with only South Africa having applied them mainly in large-scale commercial farms. It is concluded that increased precision in input and management practices among SSA smallholder farmers can significantly improve productivity even without extra use of inputs.

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Adoption and Dis-Adoption of Sustainable Agriculture: A Case of Farmers’ Innovations and Integrated Fruit Fly Management in Kenya

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture11040338 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 338

Author(s):

Charity M. Wangithi ◽

Beatrice W. Muriithi ◽

Raphael Belmin

Keyword(s):

Management Practices ◽

Household Head ◽

Fruit Fly ◽

Production Costs ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Bactrocera Dorsalis ◽

Major Threat ◽

Gender And Education ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Indigenous Methods

The invasive fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis poses a major threat to the production and trade of mango in sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers devise different innovations to manage the pest in an attempt to minimize yield loss and production costs while maximizing revenues. Using survey data obtained from Embu County, Kenya, we analyzed farmers’ knowledge and perception as regards the invasive fruit fly, their innovations for the management of the pest, and the determinants of their adoption and dis-adoption decisions of recently developed and promoted integrated pest management (IPM) technologies for suppression of the pest. The results show that farmers consider fruit flies as a major threat to mango production (99%) and primarily depend on pesticides (90%) for the management of the pest. Some farmers (35%) however use indigenous methods to manage the pest. Though farmers possess good knowledge of different IPM strategies, uptake is relatively low. The regression estimates show that continued use of IPM is positively associated with the gender and education of the household head, size of a mango orchard, knowledge on mango pests, training, contact with an extension officer, and use of at least one non-pesticide practice for fruit fly management, while IPM dis-adoption was negatively correlated with the size of the mango orchard, practice score and use of indigenous innovations for fruit fly management. We recommend enhancing farmer′s knowledge through increased access to training programs and extension services for enhanced adoption of sustainable management practices for B. dorsalis.

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Quality of care in the free maternal healthcare era in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of providers’ and managers’ perceptions

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth ◽

10.1186/s12884-021-03701-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Monica Ansu-Mensah ◽

Frederick Inkum Danquah ◽

Vitalis Bawontuo ◽

Peter Ansu-Mensah ◽

Tahiru Mohammed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Care ◽

Research Question ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Poor Quality ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Healthcare Financing ◽

Maternal Healthcare ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Free maternal healthcare financing schemes play an essential role in the quality of services rendered to clients during antenatal care in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, healthcare managers’ and providers’ perceptions of the healthcare financing scheme may influence the quality of care. This scoping review mapped evidence on managers’ and providers’ perspectives of free maternal healthcare and the quality of care in SSA. Methods We used Askey and O’Malley’s framework as a guide to conduct this review. To address the research question, we searched PubMed, CINAHL through EBSCOhost, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Google Scholar with no date limitation to May 2019 using keywords, Boolean terms, and Medical Subject Heading terms to retrieve relevant articles. Both abstract and full articles screening were conducted independently by two reviewers using the inclusion and exclusion criteria as a guide. All significant data were extracted, organized into themes, and a summary of the findings reported narratively. Results In all, 15 out of 390 articles met the inclusion criteria. These 15 studies were conducted in nine countries. That is, Ghana (4), Kenya (3), and Nigeria (2), Burkina Faso (1), Burundi (1), Niger (1), Sierra Leone (1), Tanzania (1), and Uganda (1). Of the 15 included studies, 14 reported poor quality of maternal healthcare from managers’ and providers’ perspectives. Factors contributing to the perception of poor maternal healthcare included: late reimbursement of funds, heavy workload of providers, lack of essential drugs and stock-out of medical supplies, lack of policy definition, out-of-pocket payment, and inequitable distribution of staff. Conclusion This study established evidence of existing literature on the quality of care based on healthcare providers’ and managers’ perspectives though very limited. This study indicates healthcare providers and managers perceive the quality of maternal healthcare under the free financing policy as poor. Nonetheless, the free maternal care policy is very much needed towards achieving universal health, and all efforts to sustain and improve the quality of care under it must be encouraged. Therefore, more research is needed to better understand the impact of their perceived poor quality of care on maternal health outcomes.

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Calibration and evaluation of a semi-distributed watershed model of Sub-Saharan Africa using GRACE data

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-16-3083-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 16 (9) ◽

pp. 3083-3099 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

H. Xie ◽

L. Longuevergne ◽

C. Ringler ◽

B. R. Scanlon

Keyword(s):

Regional Scale ◽

Water Storage ◽

Hydrologic Model ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Total Water ◽

Discharge Data ◽

Model Based ◽

Grace Data ◽

Sub Saharan

Abstract. Irrigation development is rapidly expanding in mostly rainfed Sub-Saharan Africa. This expansion underscores the need for a more comprehensive understanding of water resources beyond surface water. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites provide valuable information on spatio-temporal variability in water storage. The objective of this study was to calibrate and evaluate a semi-distributed regional-scale hydrologic model based on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) code for basins in Sub-Saharan Africa using seven-year (July 2002–April 2009) 10-day GRACE data and multi-site river discharge data. The analysis was conducted in a multi-criteria framework. In spite of the uncertainty arising from the tradeoff in optimising model parameters with respect to two non-commensurable criteria defined for two fluxes, SWAT was found to perform well in simulating total water storage variability in most areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, which have semi-arid and sub-humid climates, and that among various water storages represented in SWAT, water storage variations in soil, vadose zone and groundwater are dominant. The study also showed that the simulated total water storage variations tend to have less agreement with GRACE data in arid and equatorial humid regions, and model-based partitioning of total water storage variations into different water storage compartments may be highly uncertain. Thus, future work will be needed for model enhancement in these areas with inferior model fit and for uncertainty reduction in component-wise estimation of water storage variations.

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Prospects for sustainable intensification of soybean production in sub-Saharan Africa

African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics ◽

10.53936/afjare.2020.15(4).23 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 365-371

Author(s):

Deepayan Debnath ◽

◽

Suresh Babu ◽

Keyword(s):

Agricultural Sector ◽

Sustainable Intensification ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Yield Gap ◽

Livestock Industry ◽

Soybean Yield ◽

Soybean Production ◽

Soy Meal ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Ssa Countries

There is a significant soybean yield gap in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Sustainable intensification of the agricultural sector to reduce such a yield gap is important. Increasing soybean productivity can meet the growing demand for food and feed when complemented with higher soy meal demand by the local livestock industry. This study performs an ex-ante economic analysis to determine the effect of higher soybean production on trade and land use within SSA countries. We find that increasing soybean yield by 50% can increase the total returns from soybean production by 186 million LC (local currency) in Ethiopia and 36 billion LC in Nigeria. We show that soybean yield growth alone is enough to boost soy oil production, as the crushing of the beans produces 18% oil and 79% meal. While increasing productivity may lead to freeing land to produce high-valued cash crops, investors will be reluctant to invest in the crushing facilities in the absence of soy meal demand by the livestock industry. Therefore, policymakers need to establish collaboration between development organisations, private companies, farmers and researchers to achieve this transformation and thereby raise agricultural productivity.

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

10.20944/preprints202110.0272.v1 ◽

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.

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Open Innovation and Innovation Intermediaries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11020392 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 392 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Bertha Vallejo ◽

Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka ◽

Nicholas Ozor ◽

Maurice Bolo

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Local Level ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Local Context ◽

Technology And Innovation ◽

Innovation Intermediaries ◽

Science Technology ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Desk Research ◽

Science Technology And Innovation

This study explores the innovation intermediaries’ landscape in sub-Saharan Africa, considering Science Granting Councils (SGCs) as the key intermediaries in the system. Based on extensive desk research, personal interviews, and an online survey, the study discusses the roles and functions performed by SGCs as intermediators and influences of science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy. The results of the analysis corroborate the need for institutional and systemic changes to enable SGCs to perform their role. The realities, resources, and constraints at the local level cry out for the adaptation of current and future partnerships to the local context. The study concludes that only by tailoring partnerships to the development of capacity at the local level can SGCs perform effectively as influencers of national STI policy and mediators of partnerships with foreign development actors.

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Unravelling the variability and causes of smallholder maize yield gaps in Ethiopia

Food Security ◽

10.1007/s12571-019-00981-4 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 83-103 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Banchayehu Tessema Assefa ◽

Jordan Chamberlin ◽

Pytrik Reidsma ◽

João Vasco Silva ◽

Martin K. van Ittersum

Keyword(s):

Stochastic Frontier Analysis ◽

National Level ◽

Total Yield ◽

Maize Yield ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Yield Gap ◽

Potential Yield ◽

Frontier Analysis ◽

Yield Gaps ◽

Maize Yields

AbstractEthiopia has achieved the second highest maize yield in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, farmers’ maize yields are still much lower than on-farm and on-station trial yields, and only ca. 20% of the estimated water-limited potential yield. This article provides a comprehensive national level analysis of the drivers of maize yields in Ethiopia, by decomposing yield gaps into efficiency, resource and technology components, and accounting for a broad set of detailed input and crop management choices. Stochastic frontier analysis was combined with concepts of production ecology to estimate and explain technically efficient yields, the efficiency yield gap and the resource yield gap. The technology yield gap was estimated based on water-limited potential yields from the Global Yield Gap Atlas. The relative magnitudes of the efficiency, resource and technology yield gaps differed across farming systems; they ranged from 15% (1.6 t/ha) to 21% (1.9 t/ha), 12% (1.3 t/ha) to 25% (2.3 t/ha) and 54% (4.8 t/ha) to 73% (7.8 t/ha), respectively. Factors that reduce the efficiency yield gap include: income from non-farm sources, value of productive assets, education and plot distance from home. The resource yield gap can be explained by sub-optimal input use, from a yield perspective. The technology yield gap comprised the largest share of the total yield gap, partly due to limited use of fertilizer and improved seeds. We conclude that targeted but integrated policy design and implementation is required to narrow the overall maize yield gap and improve food security.

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