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Cost-effective technology can enrich poor fields, increase yields close to 50%

October 11th, 2019

Smallholder poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is often linked to sandy soils, which hold little water and are low in nutrients. A new technology may be able to enrich fields and farmers without massive investments in irrigation and fertilizer.

Many farmers across sub-Saharan Africa try to coax crops out of sandy soils that are …

Why schools must emphasise farming

October 7th, 2019

B4FA Fellow Michael Ssali explains: In his essay titled ‘Education for Self-Reliance’ Mwalimu Julius Nyerere spoke of a situation where the type of education provided to Tanzanian children soon after the country’s independence was divorced from the society which it was supposed to prepare them for. 

He argued that children were …

The enduring power of radio for agricultural extension in Africa

October 2nd, 2019

Charles Wandera is a farmer in Masindi district, Uganda. The area was recently hit with an infestation of the invasive Fall Armyworm; recently arrived in Africa, Armyworm caught farmers off guard in Masindi, leaving them unaware of how to defend their crops against the pest. Wandera turned to radio for …

CRISPR might be the banana’s only hope against a deadly fungus

September 25th, 2019 / Nature, UK

The race to engineer the next-generation banana is on. The Colombian government confirmed last month that a banana-killing fungus has invaded the Americas — the source of much of the world’s banana supply. The invasion has given new urgency to efforts to create fruit that can withstand the scourge.

Scientists are …

Africa experiencing rise in antimicrobial resistance

September 25th, 2019 / Africa Science News

An international team of researchers led by ETH has shown that antimicrobial-resistant infections are rapidly increasing in animals in Africa. They produced the first global of resistance rates and identified regions where interventions are urgently needed. Read more …

The mega-pests of Africa and their economic effect

September 23rd, 2019 / Farmers Review Africa

Typical to agrarian economies, the African economy is heavily dependent on agriculture.

One may wonder; “with over 50% of its population involved in agriculture, why the agricultural economic results are so low?”

In a previous article, I had already addressed the fundamental reasons that cerate’s the agricultural pest control difficulties in Africa …

Livestock feeding a key factor in gainful farming

September 12th, 2019 / Daily Monitor, Uganda

B4FA Fellow Michael Ssali writes:

Livestock keeping is an enterprise whose main objective is to get profit at the end of the day. Much as we raise animals for our own benefit, they have rights such as the right to adequate, good, clean food. Read more … …

How do you run your cooperative society?

September 2nd, 2019 / Daily Monitor, Uganda

B4FA Fellow Michael Ssali writes:

It is quite common nowadays to hear political leaders calling upon small-scale farmers to form cooperative societies sometimes referred to as groups. The idea is to help farmers pool together their resources in order to produce more and to earn more. 

When 50 tomato farmers in one …

Farming in the digital age

August 23rd, 2019 / African Business

We need more young Africans to farm. Let’s give them the tools to do so, writes Michael Hailu, director of the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (CTA). Read more … …

When you decide to become a farmer

August 6th, 2019 / Daily Monitor, Uganda

B4FA Fellow Michael Ssali writes:

Some people become farmers in their early youth and many others begin later, after years of formal employment. 

However there are important considerations to make before making the decision to go into farming. You have to be certain about what you want to do — it could …