The Current State of Knowledge of Shea Butter Tree (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F.Gaertner.) for Nutritional Value and Tree Improvement in West and Central Africa

Vitellaria paradoxa (C.F.Gaertn.) is a multi-purpose tree species distributed in a narrow band across sub-Saharan Africa. The species is integrated into cropping and agroforestry systems as a nutritional and economic resource, which provides a range of environmental services. Integration of the species into land-use systems provides an essential source of livelihoods and income for local populations. The economic potential of the shea butter tree derives from its edible products, which also serve cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications. To understand the current state of knowledge about V. paradoxa, this paper summarizes information about the ecology, population structure, and genetic diversity of the species, also considering compositional variation in the pulp and kernels, management practices, and efforts towards its domestication. Despite the great potential of the shea butter tree, there are some gaps in the understanding of the genetics of the species. This review presents up-to-date information related to the species for further domestication and breeding purposes.

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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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Assessing Future Water Demand and Associated Energy Input with Plausible Scenarios for Water Service Providers (WSPs) in Sub-Saharan Africa

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14082169 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (8) ◽

pp. 2169

Author(s):

Pauline Macharia ◽

Nzula Kitaka ◽

Paul Yillia ◽

Norbert Kreuzinger

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

Water Demand ◽

Energy Input ◽

Service Providers ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Water Losses ◽

Water Service ◽

Current State ◽

Per Capita ◽

Sub Saharan

This study examined the current state of water demand and associated energy input for water supply against a projected increase in water demand in sub-Saharan Africa. Three plausible scenarios, namely, Current State Extends (CSE), Current State Improves (CSI) and Current State Deteriorates (CSD) were developed and applied using nine quantifiable indicators for water demand projections and the associated impact on energy input for water supply for five Water Service Providers (WSPs) in Kenya to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach based on real data in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, the daily per capita water-use in the service area of four of the five WSPs was below minimum daily requirement of 50 L/p/d. Further, non-revenue water losses were up to three times higher than the regulated benchmark (range 26–63%). Calculations showed a leakage reduction potential of up to 70% and energy savings of up to 12 MWh/a. The projected water demand is expected to increase by at least twelve times the current demand to achieve universal coverage and an average daily per capita consumption of 120 L/p/d for the urban population by 2030. Consequently, the energy input could increase almost twelve-folds with the CSI scenario or up to fifty-folds with the CSE scenario for WSPs where desalination or additional groundwater abstraction is proposed. The approach used can be applied for other WSPs which are experiencing a similar evolution of their water supply and demand drivers in sub-Saharan Africa. WSPs in the sub-region should explore aggressive strategies to jointly address persistent water losses and associated energy input. This would reduce the current water supply-demand gap and minimize the energy input that will be associated with exploring additional water sources that are typically energy intensive.

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Women in Gabon

10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.540 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Claire H. Griffiths

Keyword(s):

Central Africa ◽

Early Period ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

African Women ◽

Female Population ◽

History Of ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Tropical Woods ◽

New Research ◽

Export Revenue

Gabon, a small oil-rich country straddling the equator on the west coast of Africa, is the wealthiest of France’s former colonies. An early period of colonization in the 19th century resulted in disease, famine, and economic failure. The creation of French Equatorial Africa in 1910 marked the beginning of the sustained lucrative exploitation of Gabon’s natural resources. Gabon began off-shore oil production while still a colony of France. Uranium was also discovered in the last decade of the French Equatorial African empire. Coupled with rich reserves in tropical woods, Gabon has achieved, since independence in 1960, a higher level of export revenue per capita of population than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa in the postcolonial era. However, significant inequality has characterized access to wealth through paid employment throughout the recorded history of monetized labor. While fortunes have been amassed by a minute proportion of the female population of Gabon associated with the ruling regime, and a professional female middle-class has emerged, inequalities of opportunity and reward continue to mark women’s experience of life in this little-known country of West Central Africa. The key challenge facing scholars researching the history of women in Gabon remains the relative lack of historical resources. While significant strides have been made over the past decade, research on women’s history in Francophone Africa published in English or French remains embryonic. French research on African women began to make a mark in the last decade of colonization, notably with the work of Denise Paulme, but then remained a neglected area for decades. The publication in 1994 of Les Africaines by French historian Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch was hailed at the time as a pioneering work in French historiography. But even this new research contained no analysis of and only a passing reference to women in Gabon.

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First Report of East African Cassava Mosaic Begomovirus in Nigeria

Plant Disease ◽

10.1094/pdis.1999.83.4.398a ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 83 (4) ◽

pp. 398-398 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

F. O. Ogbe ◽

G. I. Atiri ◽

D. Robinson ◽

S. Winter ◽

A. G. O. Dixon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Central Africa ◽

Mosaic Disease ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Cassava Mosaic Disease ◽

Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽

East African ◽

African Countries ◽

Manihot Esculenta Crantz ◽

Cross River State ◽

Sub Saharan

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important food crop in sub-Saharan Africa. One of the major production constraints is cassava mosaic disease caused by African cassava mosaic (ACMV) and East African cassava mosaic (EACMV) begomoviruses. ACMV is widespread in its distribution, occurring throughout West and Central Africa and in some eastern and southern African countries. In contrast, EACMV has been reported to occur mainly in more easterly areas, particularly in coastal Kenya and Tanzania, Malawi, and Madagascar. In 1997, a survey was conducted in Nigeria to determine the distribution of ACMV and its strains. Samples from 225 cassava plants showing mosaic symptoms were tested with ACMV monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) in triple antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (1). Three samples reacted strongly with MAbs that could detect both ACMV and EACMV. One of them did not react with ACMV-specific MAbs while the other two reacted weakly with such MAbs. With polymerase chain reaction (2), the presence of EACMV and a mixture of EACMV and ACMV in the respective samples was confirmed. These samples were collected from two villages: Ogbena in Kwara State and Akamkpa in Cross River State. Co-infection of some cassava varieties with ACMV and EACMV leads to severe symptoms. More importantly, a strain of mosaic geminivirus known as Uganda variant arose from recombination between the two viruses (2). This report provides evidence for the presence of EACMV in West Africa. References: (1) J. E. Thomas et al. J. Gen. Virol. 67:2739, 1986. (2) X. Zhou et al. J. Gen. Virol. 78:2101, 1997.

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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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Current State of Affairs With Regard to Thanatological Imaging in Francophone Sub-saharan Africa: Opinions of Radiology Technicians

Medical Imaging and Radiology ◽

10.7243/2054-1945-9-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 2

Author(s):

Abdoulatif Amadou ◽

Pihou Gbande ◽

Solim Carolle Nabede ◽

Massaga Dagbe ◽

Lantam Sonhaye ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Current State ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Radiology Technicians ◽

State Of Affairs

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Recurrent Collection of Drosophila melanogaster from Wild African Environments and Genomic Insights into Species History

Molecular Biology and Evolution ◽

10.1093/molbev/msz271 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

pp. 627-638 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Quentin D Sprengelmeyer ◽

Suzan Mansourian ◽

Jeremy D Lange ◽

Daniel R Matute ◽

Brandon S Cooper ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Demographic History ◽

Central Africa ◽

Model Organism ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Wilderness Areas ◽

Southern Central ◽

History Of ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Improved Model

Abstract A long-standing enigma concerns the geographic and ecological origins of the intensively studied vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster. This globally distributed human commensal is thought to originate from sub-Saharan Africa, yet until recently, it had never been reported from undisturbed wilderness environments that could reflect its precommensal niche. Here, we document the collection of 288 D. melanogaster individuals from multiple African wilderness areas in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. The presence of D. melanogaster in these remote woodland environments is consistent with an ancestral range in southern-central Africa, as opposed to equatorial regions. After sequencing the genomes of 17 wilderness-collected flies collected from Kafue National Park in Zambia, we found reduced genetic diversity relative to town populations, elevated chromosomal inversion frequencies, and strong differences at specific genes including known insecticide targets. Combining these genomes with existing data, we probed the history of this species’ geographic expansion. Demographic estimates indicated that expansion from southern-central Africa began ∼13,000 years ago, with a Saharan crossing soon after, but expansion from the Middle East into Europe did not begin until roughly 1,800 years ago. This improved model of demographic history will provide an important resource for future evolutionary and genomic studies of this key model organism. Our findings add context to the history of D. melanogaster, while opening the door for future studies on the biological basis of adaptation to human environments.

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No Longer Overlooked and Undervalued? The Evolving Dynamics of Endogenous Educational Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/haer.76.1.1855703m42272353 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 76 (1) ◽

pp. 80-109 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

RICHARD MACLURE

Keyword(s):

International Development ◽

Educational Research ◽

Central Africa ◽

Research Capacity ◽

The United States ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Research Network ◽

Research Networks ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Local Research

Multilateral donors like the World Bank and bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development exert a great deal of influence in international educational development — particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — both in the programs they fund and the types of research they engage in. In this article, Richard Maclure investigates educational research in Africa and juxtaposes research done by large, exogenous, Western, results-oriented organizations with research performed by smaller, endogenous, local researchers aided by local research networks. Maclure argues convincingly that research that falls into the exogenous "donor-control" paradigm far too often is irrelevant to the African educational policy context and does little to develop local research capacity. The cases of two African research networks — the Educational Research Network of West and Central Africa and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa—are presented as exemplars of organizations that promote an alternative type of research that is endogenous, relevant to policy and the process of policymaking, and controlled by Africans. Maclure concludes with a call for increased support for and development of these types of networks, and for the development of the long-term solution to educational research in Africa — the university.

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