News Archive

Africa RISING feed

Improving soil carbon measurements to empower African smallholders

The amount of carbon in farm soils is important to farmers. Soils with high carbon contents tend to provide better yields. They also tend to be more resilient to weather-related crop failure. But measuring the amount of carbon in soil can be expensive and involve several steps. That can make it...

  • Africa RISING communications
ILRI clippings

Kenyan agriculturist Su Kahumbu on the need for ‘pro-smallholder’ and ‘pro-soil’ policies

Su Kahumbu with John Njure, a small-scale Kenyan dairy farmer (photo credit: iCow). TED Fellow Su Kahumbu is one of Kenya’s most authoritative and sustainable farmers. She is the brains behind two social enterprises: ‘Green Dreams TECH Ltd’, an organic farm and service connecting Kenya’s small-...

Africa RISING feed

The value of systems research—reflections from Africa RISING partners

Africa RISING – a research-in-development program –followed a ‘farming systems research’ approach in line with its objective of ‘creating opportunities for smallholder farm households to move out of hunger and poverty through sustainably intensified farming systems that improve food, nutrition, and...

  • Simret Yasabu
Africa RISING feed

Site-specific nutrient management can double grain yields contributing to food security

Farming systems in Ethiopia are plagued by soil-related problems which lead to poor productivity, declining soil fertility and soil erosion. Other common farming-related challenges include low fertilizer use and reduced farmlands because of population pressure. Government efforts to address these...

  • Simret Yasabu
ILRI clippings

Beef cattle grazing on American rangelands—not feedlots—could be net carbon sink

Beef cattle on pasture in the USA (photo credit: BEEF magazine). A new research paper by Michigan State University scientists analyses the impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems. Highlights • On-farm beef production and...

Africa RISING feed

The renaissance of farming systems research in Africa

This article is a summary of Prof Ken Giller’s keynote address delivered last week (24 November 2017) during the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)’s 50th anniversary celebration in Ibadan, Nigeria. Ken Giller, professor, Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University. Photo:...

  • Jonathan Odhong
Africa RISING feed

Role of soil bunds on soil and water conservation in southern Ethiopia

A report by the Africa Research In Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) program explains the effects of soil bunds on soil and rainwater conservation in Ethiopia. The study by the International Water Management Institute (IMWI) and the International Center for...

  • Simret Yasabu