In agriculture, pests are organisms that significantly interfere with the productivity of crops or animals. In conventional agriculture, farmers often use chemical pesticides to manage pests. These can be effective at keeping pests away but they come with negative side effects. Chemical pesticides are costly, damaging to the environment and...

Agricultural commercialisation is a process that involves the transformation of subsistence-oriented smallholder farming systems into systems that are primarily oriented toward production for the market. Agricultural production is no longer viewed merely as the means to meet household consumption requirements, drawing on local resources, but becomes the household‟s main income-generating...

The EIP-AGRI Focus Group on ‘Integrated Pest Management – Focus on Brassica species’ brought together 20 experts with different backgrounds (scientists, farmers and advisers), to propose innovative solutions on this topic. They concentrated on winter oilseed rape (OSR) and the three most important Brassica vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli and white cabbage....

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in the Sahel whose economy is highly dominated by agriculture and livestock husbandry, with more than 70% of the population living in rural areas. The prevailing farming system is smallholder agriculture based on cereal production, especially sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and pearl millet...

Mozambique has a population of about 25 million people. Most live in rural areas and rely on farming for all or part of their household income. Located on Africa’s south-eastern seaboard, the country encompasses biodiversity sites of great significance. Today agriculture is said to account for 25% of Mozambique’s gross domestic...

In Mali, agriculture is the main source of employment. Over 80% of the population is engaged in agriculture that is mostly carried out by small farmers with income of less than US$1 per day. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is an important cereal grain used as food and animal fodder...

Located about 70 km north east from Hanoi, Vietnam, the villages of Xuan An and Ngoc Son (Bac Giang province) include 285 households. Rice is the main staple crop. Local rice and vegetable production strongly relies on synthetic inputs specifically Nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides which increase production costs and raise...

Las abejas son susceptibles a diversas enfermedades, algunas de las cuales son muy contagiosas y difusivas. Es muy importante que el apicultor sea capaz de reconocer los primeros signos de la enfermedad o infestación en las colmenas y sepa cómo proceder. Esta práctica describe los factores que desempeñan un papel...

La apicultura es la práctica de la gestión de las abejas en las colmenas para la polinización, la producción de miel y otros productos como la cera, la jalea real, el propóleos y el polen. Además, un aspecto importante de la apicultura es la producción de abejas, reinas, paquetes de...

Weaver ants help to protect your fruit and nuts from fruit flies and many other pests. If you don’t have weaver ants in your orchard yet, collect all the nests from an ant colony and transfer them to one of your fruit trees. Help the ants to spread to more...

People enjoy cashew nuts, whereas cashew apples are less valued. Leaving cashew apples on the land is an enormous loss of money. However, cashew apples can be processed into a nutritious juice which can be consumed throughout the year.

Donkeys, mules and horses are important working animals, many diseases are transmitted by insects such as flies. Flies can transmit a parasitic worm called Habronema that causes several problems in horses and donkeys. There are many precautions which you can take to ensure that your donkeys and horses stay free...

Supplemental irrigation is used to uphold even soil moisture levels by irrigating the fields during critical and dry periods to balance the scarcity of soil moisture in later growth stages and save the crops. The exact amount of water added and timing are explained in this practice. Additionally, some examples...

Water harvesting is an important technique to collect rainwater that can be used for different purposes in agriculture or stored and made available for the dry season. This practice describes the three main components of water harvesting systems, namely which are the catchment area, the storage area, and the target...

Forestry is one of the most dangerous of all occupations; it is sometimes called a “3D” job – dirty, difficult and dangerous. Occupational health and safety in forestry can be greatly improved, however, through adequate worker training and supervision and the use of safety equipment, among other things. This article...

Zaï as they are known in Burkina Faso, or tassa in Niger, are wide deep planting pits. They act as a microcatchment and can be used to rehabilitate soils when used with manure. They have been very successful in West Africa during the last 25 years.

Pollen is collected by the honeybees from the anthers of flowers while they visit them. Pollen is stored in the pollen baskets on the posterior legs of the bees and brought to the hive. To make the pollen stick together, the bees add some saliva and nectar. In the hive,...

Demi-lunes (half-moons) are in the shaped of a semi-circle with the tips of the bunds on the contour. They come in a variety of sizes, which help with water harvesting in semi-arid areas. They help to improve soil fertility when manure or compost is added.

Trees produce timber and firewood, but also fruit, pods, leaves and medicines for people and livestock. Some species help improve soil fertility and reduce local temperatures. The system supports crops and livestock.

A parte del papel de las abejas sin aguijón en la polinización de los cultivos, podría haber un beneficio adicional a partir de los valiosos productos producidos por la colmena: miel, polen y propóleos. Esta tecnología estudia el procedimiento para la recolección de miel, polen y propóleos de abejas sin...