Banana is an important crop serving millions of households as a staple food and source of income in East Africa. It drives food security, nutrition, and rural livelihoods across the region, with its value deeply integrated in smallholder farming systems and…
In West Africa, yam production is far more than an agricultural activity. It is a deeply embedded system that sustains millions of livelihoods, shapes rural economies, and reinforces cultural identity. Across the region, yams occupy a central place not…
In Nigeria, long before the dominance of maize and rice, farmers cultivated a range of indigenous crops uniquely adapted to local ecologies and nutritional needs. Among these are fonio–locally known as acha in some parts of Nigeria and the…
For decades, Bambara groundnut has been quietly feeding families across Nigeria. In rural communities stretching from the savannahs of the north to the forest zones of the south, farmers (many of whom are women) have relied on this hardy…
Building a functional formal cassava seed system is critical to Tanzania’s agriculture. It is the foundation for providing high-yielding, disease-resistant, and climate-resilient cassava varieties to smallholder farmers. Yet the very people who form the backbone of cassava production, women…
For many years, selecting the right seed varieties for farmers in Rwanda was a slow and highly technical process. Before a seed recommendation could reach farmers, it often took up to two years of station-based trials and on-farm evaluations.…
Roots, Tubers, and Bananas (RTB) crops, which include cassava, yam, banana, plantain, sweet potato, and potato, remain at the heart of food and nutritional security for millions of people across the tropics. In sub-Saharan Africa, especially these crops contribute…
In late May, the African Development Bank Group will convene its Annual Meetings in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, under the theme, “Mobilizing Africa’s Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World.…