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GODAN: Making agriculture and nutrition data open and searchable

Open data – data that is freely available and machine-readable for everyone to use – is a vital resource for improving global food security and human health. The Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) programme has been set up to take pioneering agriculture and nutrition research information and make it openly accessible – together with up-to-date information on soils, weather, land ownership, market prices and similar – to the people who need it most.

Managing Maize lethal necrosis disease in eastern and central Africa

Maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND) negatively affects maize crops and their seeds and is threatening food and economic security in East and Central Africa. This project researched solutions to minimize or eliminate the risks and effects of the disease in the region. Through use of various channels to reach stakeholders along the value chain, CABI disseminated information on the threat of the disease and ways to manage it.

Increasing rice production around the Mekong

Rice is the most important crop in southwestern China, Laos and Myanmar. Despite recent improvements, productivity is still low with millions of tons lost to pests, diseases and weeds. Intensive pesticide use has led to insecticide resistance, outbreaks of secondary pests and damage to farmers’ health. This project is introducing a biologically based pest management approach to safely and sustainably increase rice production, improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the region.

Promoting good seed in East Africa

African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) are key to food security and income generation in Africa and are increasing in demand. In this project, not only did CABI’s project team promote their consumption and generate more demand, it also built awareness of the vegetables and seeds, improved access to them and developed new varieties.

Guaranteeing credit to coffee farmers in Ethiopia and Rwanda

Coffee is one of the largest traded commodities in the world, providing livelihoods for 25 million farming families, and is crucial to many countries’ GDP. In places such as Ethiopia and Rwanda, coffee plays a critical role in the economy and revitalising coffee production and quality is vital; allowing farmers to attract premiums and improve their household income. This project continues on our previous work here improving processing practices by smallholders.

Optimizing Fertilizer Recommendations in Africa (OFRA)

Soil fertility across much of sub-Saharan Africa is poor, which is a major constraint to improving farm productivity and farmer livelihoods. To combat this there is now wide recognition of the need to integrate increased fertilizer use with other aspects of soil fertility management. This project aims to contribute to improved efficiency and profitability of fertilizer use within the context of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) practices.