Potato is a major food crop in the mid-hills and mountains in Nepal. Traditionally, most farmers use small tubers as seed, to grow potato with the minimum input. Although seed tubers are easy to plant and plants grow quickly, they are expensive and may account for more than half of...

Soil erosion and declining soil fertility are recognised as problems in the semi‑arid valleys of the inter-Andean zone of South America. These have a particularly strong impact on areas of subsistence agriculture and contribute to poverty inducing processes. The mid-Andes area in particular, which includes Cochabamba and parts of Santa...

Honey bees are still useful even after they die. They have important healing properties. Beekeepers have used dead bees for treating and/or curing diseases for thousands of years. This technology describes when to collect dead bees and how to store and preserve them. In addition to how to process dead...

Depuis 2005, une culture durable du coton a vu le jour dans certains pays en Afrique au sud du Sahara. Le Bénin compte parmi ces pays. Cette forme de production cotonnière ayant le souci d’améliorer le revenu du producteur, de préserver son environnement et de prendre en charge l’aspect social...

Farmers in the Mahintada village, in the Surkhet District cultivate ginger as a major income generating cash crop to be used as food or medicine. Ginger rhizomes selected for seed purposes are stored in pits to be used in the next season. It has been observed that around 25 to...

The Laikipia district, in the Rift Valley of Kenya, is located on the plateau north west of Mount Kenya. Due to its leeward position, the district is significantly dry, with aridity increasing from the slopes of the mountain to the dry lowlands. Inadequate rainfall and periods of drought have caused...

Este documento aborda información sobre el sistemas riego parcelario tecnificado sus ventajas y desventajas, igualmente explica el diseño agronómico del proceso técnico de este sistema y finalmente aborda el diseño de reigo parcelario. Los sistemas de riego presurizado parcelario son el alma de la AFC en el sector rural, ello...

Natural hazards such as floods, landslides and drought occur frequently in different parts of Nepal with varying dimensions and magnitude. These hazards constitute the major causes of land degradation and deterioration of natural ecosystems. The introduction of a multi-storied agroforestry cropping system ensures the best combination use of crop-tree intercropping...

Le rôle principal des abeilles mâles, appelé aussi faux bourdons, est de s'accoupler avec une reine non fécondée. La valeur des larves de mâle en tant que complément nutritionnel a déjà été prouvée et ces larves ont été utilisées depuis des milliers d'années par les civilisations les plus anciennes. Elles...

Beeswax has unique physical and chemical characteristics that are exploited in a multitude of applications (candles, food processing industry, textile industry, pharmaceutical industry, etc.). Wax can be an additional source of income for beekeepers, therefore, it is important that beekeepers know how to collect and prepare the wax for further...

Low income farmers in semi-arid tropics, such as in the low rainfall areas of southern India traditionally combine different activities to diversify livelihoods so as to reduce the impact of natural hazards like drought. The Acacia Leucophoea and Cenchrus Ciliaris sylvi-pastoral system is an integrated sylvi-pastoral farming system that provides...

In Bangladesh, both in flood years and in dry years, rice crop is under growing risks of yield losses due to disasters. The three-tier weather forecasting scheme provides information on the coming weather and allows to plan agricultural activities accordingly, following the ordinary cropping pattern in case of early or...

Helping to write a script for a farmer training video on vermiwash triggered my interest in trying it out myself, as I began to wonder if ideas from tropical India could work in temperate Belgium.

Growing mango is full of challenges and farmers should know about them to succeed in the mango production. The more farmers know, the better they will succeed. This short film (and its description) deals with a disease called Anthracnose. It is a very wide spread disease in humid environments, like...

This entry gives an overview of the concept, the fundamental principles and the benefits of conservation agriculture (CA). CA is an approach to managing agro-ecosystems for improved and sustained productivity as well as increased profits and food security while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment. CA is...

Cultivating lotus in raised beds is a local adaptation practice in flood prone areas of the Quang Tri province of north central Viet Nam. Communities traditionally collected lotus seeds from plants grown in common water bodies and sold them in markets. However, there was no initiative to further develop, promote...

Frequent landslides in mid-hill districts in Nepal have caused damage to productive land at the lower basin and affected human settlements and agriculture activities both upstream and downstream. Extensive areas of productive land were left fallow because of their vulnerability to landslides, and many settlements were displaced, mostly from the...

This practice describes how water logging tolerant wheat varieties can mitigate the impact of water-logging and drought spells on wheat crops through the introduction of more hazard resilient varieties and innovative cultivation technologies. This practice aims to mitigate the impacts of drought spells on wheat crops through the introduction of...

This practice describes the most common diseases attacking sweet potato in sub-Saharan Africa. It will help the farmers to identify them and to treat the plants.

Viral honeybee diseases are spread throughout the world. They can cause serious economic losses if combined with other bee diseases. Their impact is usually underestimated by beekeepers. Following is a list of the main honey bee viruses and a brief overview of the symptoms of the main viral diseases of...