Agronomic performance of open pollinated and hybrid maize varieties: Results from on-farm trials in northern Ghana

Agronomic performance of open pollinated and hybrid maize varieties: Results from on-farm trials in northern Ghana
Author: Van Asselt, Joanna
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 19
Release: 2018-02-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Maize is an important staple crop in Ghana, but maize productivity is low. Other countries with similar agroecological conditions have increased maize productivity by increasing the use of maize hybrids. This paper presents the results of maize trials in northern Ghana, in which hybrids were tested to see if they performed significantly better than the varieties planted by farmers. This paper details the procedures of the maize trials and presents descriptive statistics of the trial results. The trials demonstrated that two foreign hybrids performed consistently better than Obaatanpa, the most widely used variety in the north. The foreign hybrids performed consistently well in all districts and appear to be well-suited for planting in northern Ghana.

Performance and adoption factors for open pollinated and hybrid maize varieties: Evidence from farmers’ fields in northern Ghana

Performance and adoption factors for open pollinated and hybrid maize varieties: Evidence from farmers’ fields in northern Ghana
Author: Van Asselt, Joanna
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 18
Release: 2018-02-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Maize is the most widely grown starch in Ghana, and yet domestic supply does not meet demand, because maize productivity is low. Trials were performed in northern Ghana in 2015 to determine whether hybrid varieties would outperform the varieties planted by farmers and, therefore, increase maize productivity. Two foreign hybrids performed consistently better then Obaatanpa, the most widely used variety in the north. In 2016, Adikanfo, the best performing hybrid, and certified Obaatanpa were made available for purchase at subsidized rates in the communities where the 2015 trials had been conducted. A survey was then carried out to study whether the trials had any effect on technology uptake or behavioral change among farmers in the region and if the varieties performed as well on the farmers’ fields as in the trials. This paper presents the descriptive results of the survey.

Ghana's Economic and Agricultural Transformation

Ghana's Economic and Agricultural Transformation
Author: Xinshen Diao
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2019
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0198845340

Using Ghana as a case study, this work integrates economic and political analysis to explore the challenges and opportunities of Africa's growth and transformation.

Advances in Food and Non-Food Biomass Production, Processing and Use in Sub-Saharan Africa

Advances in Food and Non-Food Biomass Production, Processing and Use in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Daniel Callo-Concha
Publisher: MDPI
Total Pages: 446
Release: 2020-05-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3039286684

The bioeconomy concept aims to add sustainability to the production, transformation, and trade of biological goods. Though implemented around the world, the development of national bioeconomies is uneven, especially in the global South, where major challenges exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this context, the international BiomassWeb project aimed to underpin the bioeconomy concept by applying the value web approach, which seeks to uncover complex interlinked value webs instead of linear value chains. The project also aimed to develop intervention options to strengthen and optimize the synergies and trade-offs among different value chains. The Special Issue “Advances in Food and Non-Food Biomass Production, Processing and Use in Sub-Saharan Africa: Toward a Basis for a Regional Bioeconomy" compiles 23 articles produced in this framework. The articles are grouped in four sections: the value web approach; the production side; processing, transformation and trade; and global views.

We Are Not Starving

We Are Not Starving
Author: Joeva Sean Rock
Publisher: MSU Press
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2022-09-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1628954698

This critical text is a timely ethnography of how global powers, local resistance, and capital flows are shaping contemporary African foodways. Ghana was one of the first countries targeted by a group of US donors and agribusiness corporations that funded an ambitious plan to develop genetically modified (GM) crops for African farmers. The collective believed that GM crops would help farmers increase their yields and help spark a “new” Green Revolution on the continent. Soon after the project began in Ghana, a nationwide food sovereignty movement emerged in opposition to GM crops. Today, in spite of impressive efforts and investments by proponents, only two GM crops remain in the pipeline. Why, after years of preparation, millions of dollars of funding, and multiple policy reforms, did these megaprojects effectively come to a halt? One of the first ethnographies to take on the question of GM crops in the African context, We Are Not Starving: The Struggle for Food Sovereignty in Ghana blends archival analysis, interviews, and participant observation with Ghanaian scientists, farmers, activists, and officials. Ultimately the text aims to illuminate why GM crops have animated the country and to highlight how their introduction has opened an opportunity to air grievances about the systematic de-valuing and exploitation of African land, labor, and knowledge that have been centuries in the making.

Breeding for drought and nitrogen stress tolerance in maize: From theory to practice

Breeding for drought and nitrogen stress tolerance in maize: From theory to practice
Author: M. Bänzinger
Publisher: CIMMYT
Total Pages: 69
Release: 2000
Genre:
ISBN: 9706480463

Introduction - why breed for drought and low N tolerance?; Conceptual framework - breeding; Conventional approaches to improving the drought and low N tolerance of maize; Conventional approaches challenged; The challenge of breeding for drought and low N tolerance; Maize under drought and low N stress; Conceptual framework - physiology; Water and the maize plant; Nitrogen and the maize plant; Maize under drought and low N stress - consequences for breeding; Stress management; Drought; Low N stress; Statistical designs and layout of experiments; Increasing the number of replicates; Improved statistical designs; Field layout; Border effects from alleys; Secondary traits; Why use secondary traits?; How do we decide on the value of secondary traits in a drought or low N breeding program?; Secondary traits that help to identify drought tolerance; Secondary traits that help to identify low N tolerance: Selection indices - Combining information on secondary traits with grain yield; Combining information from various experiments; Breeding strategies; Choice of germplasm; Breeding schemes; Biotechnology: potential and constraints for improving drought and low N tolerance; The role of the farmer in selection; What is farmer participatory research and why is it important?; What is new about farmer participatory research?; Participatory methodologies.

Maize productivity in Ghana

Maize productivity in Ghana
Author: Ragasa, Catherine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 4
Release: 2014-09-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

Maize is an important food crop in Ghana, accounting for more than 50 percent of the country’s total cereal production. The Ghana Grains Development Project (1979–1997) and the Food Crops Development Project (2000–2008) made major investments to improve maize yield. Despite these efforts, the average maize yield in Ghana remains one of the lowest in the world, much lower than the average for Africa south of the Sahara.

Crop Evolution, Adaptation and Yield

Crop Evolution, Adaptation and Yield
Author: L. T. Evans
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 516
Release: 1996-05-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780521295581

In this major 1993 work, Lloyd Evans provides an integrated view of the domestication, adaptation and improvement of crop plants, bringing together genetic diversity, plant breeding, physiology and aspects of agronomy. Considerations of yield and maximum yield provide continuity throughout the book. Food, feed, fibre, fuel and pharmaceutical crops are all discussed. Cereals, grain legumes and root crops, both temperate and tropical, provide many of the examples, but pasture plants, oilseeds, leafy crops, fruit trees and others are also considered. After the introductory chapter, the increasing significance of crop yields to the world's food supply is highlighted. The next three chapters consider changes to crop plants over the last ten thousand years, including domestication, adaptation and improvement. Aimed at research workers and advanced students in crop physiology and ecology, agronomy and plant breeding, this book also reaches conclusions of relevance to those concerned with developmental policy, agricultural research and management, environmental quality, resource depletion and human history.

Plant Breeding Reviews, Volume 43

Plant Breeding Reviews, Volume 43
Author: Irwin Goldman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2019-12-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1119616735

Contents 1. Maria Isabel Andrade: Sweetpotato Breeder, Technology Transfer Specialist, and Advocate 1 2. Development of Cold Climate Grapes in the Upper Midwestern U.S.: The Pioneering Work of Elmer Swenson 31 3. Candidate Genes to Extend Fleshy Fruit Shelf Life 61 4. Breeding Naked Barley for Food, Feed, and Malt 95 5. The Foundations, Continuing Evolution, and Outcomes from the Application of Intellectual Property Protection in Plant Breeding and Agriculture 121 6. The Use of Endosperm Genes for Sweet Corn Improvement: A review of developments in endosperm genes in sweet corn since the seminal publication in Plant Breeding Reviews, Volume 1, by Charles Boyer and Jack Shannon (1984) 215 7. Gender and Farmer Preferences for Varietal Traits: Evidence and Issues for Crop Improvement 243 8. Domestication, Genetics, and Genomics of the American Cranberry 279 9. Images and Descriptions of Cucurbita maxima in Western Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 317

Agricultural Input Subsidies

Agricultural Input Subsidies
Author: Ephraim Chirwa
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2013-09-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199683522

This book takes forward our understanding of agricultural input subsidies in low income countries.