Persistent global hunger and undernutrition have underscored the need for urgent action towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim to end all forms of malnutrition and double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers by 2030. In sub-Saharan Africa, lack of dietary diversity is a key causal factor of malnutrition since … More Veggies offer new opportunities to farmers in Tanzania

Down in the valley in the village of Kasuza in the Eastern Province of Zambia, along the border with Mozambique, Aaron and Mervis Mumba are legends. The couple, who have two children, are literally turning on its head the negative connotation associated with the phrase ‘reaping where you did not sow’. Through meticulous analysis of … More Zambian farmer finds the sweet spot during dry season

In the Ethiopian Highlands, where yields have been only about one third of their potential, diffused light storage of seed potatoes is getting results. Mrs Tadelech Lachemo, a farmer in the Ethiopian Highlands, had a dream to increase her agricultural productivity and run a profitable restaurant. Taking part in Africa RISING’s potato seed multiplication training … More Potato farmers see the light in Ethiopia

  At nutrition field schools in southern Mali, young mothers are learning and teaching about the building blocks of life. Fighting child malnutrition in the Sahel has always been a daunting task. In southern Mali, over 28% of children under five are stunted – despite this area being the grain basket of the country. Iron … More In Mali, field schools educate mothers, nourish children

Farmers in Babati District of northern Tanzania had been reluctant to use fertilizers due to a belief, handed down the generations, that inorganic fertilizer ‘kills’ the soil. This myth was born out of a poorly implemented fertilizer scaling exercise decades ago – the ammonium sulfate that was recommended then isn’t good for the soils in … More In Tanzania, farmers restore faith in fertilizer

Focusing research on farmers’ preferred practice has resulted in tripled faba bean yield. Africa RISING researchers in the Ethiopian Highlands were intrigued to see that smallholders growing faba bean chose to weed only once in a season, even though they were aware that weeding twice gave consistently higher yields. So to find out why, in … More When is a weed not a weed?

Pigeon pea–groundnut doubled-up legumes intercropping in Malawi. Photo credit: Jim Richards Intercropping two legumes – groundnut and pigeon pea – means two grain harvests plus two crop residues to improve soil fertility. Smallholder farmers in southern Africa face a conundrum. They need to get more crops onto their limited land – but without reducing the … More Double grain, double gain

In 2011, USAID’s Agricultural Research Division solicited brief proposals from IITA and ILRI as to how they would lead research efforts offering solutions to the numerous constraints to smallholder farm productivity while simultaneously achieving multiple objectives around food and nutritional security, improved incomes, and soil and water conservation. Three key production regions across sub-Saharan Africa … More Africa RISING: a multidisciplinary program using an integrated systems research