An innovative approach to seed systems, spearheaded by scientists working with the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB), offers new ways to enhance the adoption of novel technologies and limit the spread of pests and diseases. By focusing on the network that links farmers, traders and others, it identifies the best places […]
Read More… from Network analysis reveals where to act effectively in seed systems
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A research team developing artificial-intelligence-based solutions for diagnosing and managing threats to crop health has received a grant to expand the technology to assist more smallholder farmers around the world. CGIAR, an international agricultural research consortium, awarded the project a $250,000 scale-up grant under its Inspire Challenge program, part of the […]
Read More… from Grant will support expanded use of artificial intelligence for crop health
In March of 2019, we visited Village Seed Entrepreneurs (VSEs) in Benue State, Nigeria, that were established as a part of the Building a Sustainable, Integrated Seed System for Cassava (BASICS) project. BASICS is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is being led by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and […]
Read More… from Spotlight on Village Seed Entrepreneurs making money from cassava stems in Nigeria
Farmers rely on seed systems for access to high-quality, disease-free planting material at the start of the season. Good seed systems ensure access to seed for a variety of crops that are affordable and fully available at the start of the season. Unfortunately, this is not a reality for many smallholder farmers in developing countries, […]
Read More… from In the war on emerging crop diseases, scientists develop new ‘War Room’ simulations
Camote (sweet potato) chips, anyone? How about camote cue, or the simple boiled camote? Did you know there is more to the lowly sweet potato than your favorite merienda (snack) food? Among other high-value crops, camote, and other root and tuber crops are now being considered for development by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to prop […]
Read More… from Lowly camote to save the day – for food security and climate-change resiliency
Martha Lawrance is a 49-year-old woman from the Chogsia, Wa West District of the Upper West Region in Ghana. She and her husband have four children with the youngest being under five years of age. Three years ago, Martha was introduced to orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) through women groups programs that worked with a local NGO, […]
Indigenous farmers from the central Peruvian Andes gathered in Paucará, Huancavelica for the 5th Annual Assembly of AGUAPAN (Association of Guardians of the Native Potato). AGUAPAN is a farmer-led association with members from five regions: Huánuco, Huancavelica, Junín, Pasco, and Lima. “Since the start of the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas, the […]
Read More… from Guardians of the Native Potato: 5th Annual Assembly of AGUAPAN
We excited to share our 2018 Annual Report entitled ‘Making an Impact’. We invite you to explore the report website, where you can also download the PDF. We have also created a recap video this year. In 2018 we saw the positive results of restructuring for Phase II of the CRPs. Our flagship projects […]
Results from a household survey of farmers in Rwanda and Burundi challenge our stereotypes about how women and men engage in growing roots, tubers and bananas. In male-headed households, decision-making and labor-provision were most of the time joint efforts by men and women, while in female-headed households, men made most of the decisions and supplied […]
Read More… from Study sheds new light on roles of women and men on RTB farms
In late May the International Potato Centre (CIP) organized a stakeholder engagement and launch meeting in Nairobi, Kenya bringing together over 20 organizations involved in sweetpotato value chain in Kenya. The launch involved representatives at the national level from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Ministry of Health and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS). The new […]
Read More… from Scaling up the use of Orange Fleshed Puree for Baked and Fried Products
Scientists have, for the first time, located the position of major quantitative trait loci associated with bunch weight and its component traits in Matooke, the East African Highland cooking banana. This is an important breakthrough in efforts to speed up the breeding of improved high-yielding varieties for both food security and improved household incomes in […]
Ensuring plant breeders can take women into account M9 is the code name of a new banana variety developed for the smallholder banana farmers of Uganda, where banana is a very important staple. Yields can be 60% higher and, because the variety is resistant to pests and diseases, it does not need to be replanted […]