Rony Swennen, professeur à l’université belge KU Leuven, a rejoint l’équipe du RTB l’année dernière. C’était pour lui une étape logique dans une carrière de 35 ans au service des Musa, le genre des bananes et plantains. Chercheur de renommée dans une des meilleures universités du monde, il apporte au Programme de recherche d’amples connaissances […]
Read More… from Université KU Leuven : la Belgique et les bananes dans le RTB
The use of cassava-based feeds for farm animals in Nigeria and other countries in Africa will bring several benefits, including a reduction of maize imports mostly used as feeds for livestock, according to the Country Representative for the Ibadan based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Dr Iheanacho Okike. Publisher: http://www.thisdaylive.com/ Publishing date: 2014-02-25 Read article […]
Read More… from Nigeria, Others to Save $4.63bn Annually by Adopting Cassava Feed
For Rony Swennen, professor at the Belgian university KU Leuven, joining RTB last year was the next logical step in his 35-year career working on Musa (the genus of bananas and plantains). A renowned banana researcher at one of the world’s best universities, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the research program, […]
Read More… from From the University of Leuven: Belgium, Bananas and RTB
By CIP’s Production System and Environment Sub-Program – Yield gap analysis is an important tool to estimate to what extent production could be increased if all factors are controlled and non-limiting. While this information is well documented for cereals, much remains to be done on other commodities such as potatoes. A challenge in this endeavor […]
Netsayi Noris Mudege, an anthropologist from Harare, Zimbabwe, has been the Gender Focal Point at the International Potato Center (CIP) and the Gender Coordinator for RTB since May of 2013. Before joining RTB, she was a gender advisor at the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Before that, she was an Associate Research Scientist […]
By IITA– International researchers met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to develop a strategy and agree on a joint methodology to conduct surveys on consumers’ preferences for various processed cassava products in Benin, Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania. The meeting, hosted by IITA, was held on 21-24 January 2014. The study aims to get […]
As researchers try to predict the potential threat that pests and diseases pose for RTB crops, and develop strategies to help local agricultural research and extension institutions deal with them, the role of climate change is all too often the missing factor in their equations. Long-term shifts in temperature and rainfall are expected to transform […]
Read More… from Predicting climate change’s impact on crop pests and diseases
Approximately 50 experts from 20 countries have gathered in Bujumbura, Burundi this week to coordinate an ambitious effort to contain the spread of Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD) in Africa and help farmers to recover from the devastation that disease has wrought. BBTD has spread rapidly across Southern Africa in recent decades, and more recently […]
A project on expanding utilization and reducing postharvest losses in RTB crops is starting this month in Uganda. Supported by the European Union and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), it will rely on a network of global and local partners. “It’s worth emphasizing the pioneering role of this project for implementing the CGIAR […]
Read More… from New RTB project to expand utilization of roots, tubers and bananas in Uganda
Many people in East Africa are involved in the production and sale of banana-based beverages, but there is much to be learned about the activity’s impacts and potential. RTB consequently funded a workshop on “Banana-based beverages in East Africa: diagnosing value chains and associated livelihoods” that was held in Kigali, Rwanda on November 26-28, 2013. […]
Read More… from Banana beverages hold potential for improving livelihoods in East Africa
Bacterial diseases that attack RTB crops pose serious threats to the food security and livelihoods of smallholders in many parts the world. In an effort to promote knowledge sharing and collaborative responses to those threats, RTB is supporting a Bacterial Disease (BD) Initiative, which convened its first meeting of international experts in Kenya on December […]
Read More… from International meeting launches initiative to control RTB bacterial diseases
By Dagmar Wittine, RTB Program Manager The CGIAR Consortium of International Agriculture Research Centers is actively promoting Results-Based Management (RBM), which shifts incentive structures from rewarding research outputs to focus on the development outcomes they lead to. This requires a much more systematic effort to engage partners and should enhance efforts to reduce rural poverty, […]
Read More… from RTB implementing pilot for Results-Based Management