Hybrid sorghum now reaching farmers in Mali
In Western Africa, guinea-race sorghums appear well adapted to the harsh climate and poor soils of the region, possessing traits that make them predominant in the area and vital to food security...Read more
Planting the seeds of good business
Mr. Lovemore Chopi, an AGRA trained and supported agro dealer, has a story to tell. Times were tough. Chopi’s mother did not have a job and she also had three of his siblings to feed. To support the family Chopi ventured into seed vending on a makeshift rural market pallet...Read more
New beans in Uganda
Ugandan farmers are yearning for bean varieties that can withstand field production constraints while still having the storage, preparation, taste and other preferred home consumption traits. These are precisely the types of new bean varieties being developed under an AGRA (PASS)-funded project with the Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO)...Read more
Smallholder farmers in Makueni turn to drought-resistant crops
Unreliable rainfall, changing weather patterns and maize diseases have greatly affected the produce in many parts of Kenya. This has resulted in low yields and income for farmers. To beat this, farmers in Makueni County are now trying to adapt to these changes and are shifting from maize to planting drought-resistant crops such as sorghum, finger millet, cow peas and cassava. This sudden shift now begs the question: Is maize slowly becoming a peripheral crop...Read more
Farmers reap big from soil study
Peasant farmers who were used to a few sacks of yields from over cultivated lands turn to Kari to change their fortunes. With a smile on his face, a sickle in his hand and a possible bounty harvest in the offing, Joseph Onyango savours the success of his hard work. Helped by his wife and two children, he whistles as he gathers sack after sack of healthy looking maize…Read more
Can an African 'green revolution' feed the world?
SABA SABA, Kenya (AlertNet) - Her bare feet coated with mud, Sabena Gitau trudged down the rain-sodden hillside to her banana plantation, machete in hand. She chose and cut several giant bunches of bananas, which she strapped to a motorbike to be taken to nearby Saba Saba town, 77 km (48 miles) north of Nairobi, to be weighed, graded and sold...Read more
Cassava farmers crack open the door to bigger markets
Armed with simple technologies adapted for family and community use, Cassava farmers in Makueni County, Eastern Kenya have cracked open the access code to previously impenetrable markets thereby attracting various categories of buyers from far and wide and making money in the process. …Read more
