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IITA-Rwanda’s Rhys Manners was invited as a guest speaker in IFPRI-Rwanda’s inaugural webinar titled – ‘Farmer Typologies and Innovation Scaling in Rwanda’. The webinar, chaired by the Honorable Minister of State for Agriculture and Animal Resources Dr. Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, outlined the potential of farm typologies for improved targeting, tool development, and innovation scaling for supporting […]
By Walter Ocimati Like Covid-19, the bacteria that causes Xanthomonas wilt (aka BXW) in bananas can spread quickly through a population of susceptible plants, albeit with a more devastating impact since not only will the infected plants succumb to the disease, all the cultivars that have been exposed to the bacteria so far turned […]
Rwandan cassava and potato farmers face the challenge of finding fertilizer recommendations to generate higher yields and profits. Current fertilizer recommendations are crop-specific but are not tailored to different locations, soil types, farm types, or field histories. This often leads to suboptimal responses to fertilizer application, over- or under-use of fertilizers, and a revenue loss […]
Banana is a major commodity in Rwanda, used as both a cash and (staple) food crop; it covers 23% of Rwanda’s land and is grown by 90% of households. Rwanda is one of the largest producers of bananas in the Eastern Africa Region and ranks second in banana consumption in the world with an annual […]
Disease surveillance and mapping has for long heavily relied on in-person field surveys by knowledgeable staff. However, this approach has been limited by its high cost, often limited human capacity and difficulty in accessing more remote locations. In addition, the inability of farmers and sometimes local extension staff to rightly identify and or differentiate between […]
It is predicted that climate change will cause an increase in frequency and duration of dry spells in Central Africa, the target region of the Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA). This will lower yields of cassava and banana consumed daily by approximately 6 million people in the highlands of Burundi, the […]
Deus Kayibanda feels the field in his veins. The Research Assistant at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Rwanda spends almost 90 % of his work on field duties. He is familiar with field activities but working during the lockdown due to COVID-19 was unfamiliar modus operandi. COVID-19 has shaken all spheres of life, […]
Rollout of development interventions using a one-size-fits-all model can achieve economies of scale but can neglect the variability in farm and farmer characteristics. A data-driven approach to incorporate farmer diversity in scaling strategies may help to achieve greater development impact, researchers from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), […]
New research by scientists from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Wageningen University, reveals that cavies are important for meat consumption, especially for children, and offer opportunity to generate petty cash and manure for crop production in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Entitled “Micro-livestock in smallholder farming systems: the role, challenges […]
As a second-year student of IMRD (International Master of Science in Rural Development) in Ghent University, I was enthusiastic to find a chance to do something on development and livelihood in my dear homeland Rwanda, or as we proudly say, “Land of Thousands Hills”. In my desperate attempt to do so, I came across the […]