New technologies will be added regularly to this e-catalog.
15 results
An economically sustainable integrated cassava seed system! Cassava is a critical food and income source for millions of smallholders in Africa. Yet most cassava farmers rely on non-certified, disease-ridden seed, leading to low yields and food insecurity. The BASICS model, supported by BMGF, IFAD, and IITA, offers a tested and replicable approach to building sustainable, inclusive, and resilient seed systems. It bridges R4D outputs and smallholder needs, while encouraging national ownership and local enterprise development. The model is now promoted by the TAAT Cassava Compact as a pathway to scaling impact and meeting SDG targets on food, jobs, and sustainability.
Building stronger cassava seed businesses for African seed entrepreneurs and farmers. CSAM is a systemic solution designed to strengthen the cassava seed sector by establishing formal associations of seed entrepreneurs. Through these associations, seed producers can access certification, financing, training, and policy advocacy, resulting in improved operational efficiency, enhanced seed quality, and stronger market connections. The model has already been validated in Nigeria and Tanzania and is now expanding into Rwanda and Kenya, benefiting over 2,700 seed entrepreneurs. The model provides an institutional framework that fosters collaboration, collective action, and long-term sustainability in the cassava seed value chain.
Transforming Cassava Farming Through Entrepreneurial Innovation! Cassava is a vital crop for food security and income generation across Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the region's traditional cassava seed systems have been largely informal and unsustainable, relying on farmer-to-farmer seed sharing and irregular free seed distributions from governments and NGOs. This practice has resulted in the widespread use of low-quality, disease-prone planting materials, leading to reduced crop yields and limited adoption of improved cassava varieties. The Cassava Seed Entrepreneur (CSE) Business Model offers a sustainable, market-driven solution to strengthen cassava seed systems. By transforming rural men, women, and youth into certified seed entrepreneurs, the model empowers local communities to produce and sell high-quality cassava planting materials. This initiative integrates capacity building, digital certification tools, and strategic partnerships to ensure the consistent availability of clean, certified seeds. As a result, it enhances agricultural productivity, fosters rural economic growth, and improves livelihoods, contributing to long-term food security and poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Build an efficient seed system! SeedTracker is a scalable, inclusive, and impact-oriented digital solution to strengthen seed systems. It enables efficient certification, traceability, and access to improved seed for smallholder farmers—supporting agricultural transformation and institutional capacity building.
Improved cassava varieties crucial for enhancing food security, increasing farmer incomes, and reducing poverty in Africa. The technology is a market-driven cassava breeding system that develops improved varieties based on market needs, such as for fresh consumption, processing, or biofortification. It involves stakeholder input, standard breeding methods, and regulatory collaboration for variety release. Adoption is promoted through trials, launch events, and media campaigns, aligning breeding with market demand to boost cassava productivity and value chain performance.
Zaï pits are a traditional water-harvesting technique used in the Sahel to combat low rainfall, soil degradation, and poor soil fertility. By digging small pits that trap rainwater and organic matter, farmers can improve moisture retention, nutrient availability, and crop yields by 60–90%. This cost-effective method enables the rehabilitation of degraded lands and enhances the resilience of millet and sorghum crops. When combined with other soil and water conservation techniques, Zaï pits significantly contribute to sustainable dryland agriculture.
Low-cost hygienic drying technology for high-quality products The Solar Bubble Dryer (ISD) is a mobile, solar-powered drying system designed to efficiently dry freshly harvested cassava roots, reducing post-harvest losses and improving product quality. It utilizes solar energy for both thermal collection to speed up drying and electricity to power a blower for air circulation, making it independent from the power grid. The system is mobile, allowing farmers to dry produce near the harvest site, minimizing transportation costs and spoilage risks. With a drying capacity of 90-145 kg per cycle, the technology boosts food security, supports women’s empowerment, reduces carbon footprints, and promotes sustainable practices. It has a 10-year lifespan, an initial cost of $1,800, and offers a return on investment ranging from 7% to 180%. The technology contributes to multiple SDGs, including those related to hunger, gender equality, clean energy, economic growth, and climate action.
MahuWévi, the solution for aquaculture that sustainably feeds The MahuWévi is an advanced oxygenation system designed for sustainable fish farming in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for tilapia. It provides efficient, low-cost oxygen enrichment, ensuring high dissolved oxygen levels through short, regular micro-injections, while operating with minimal energy use. This technology reduces water demand by 50%, lowers nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, and enhances water recycling for crop irrigation, supporting a circular economy. Adaptable to various users, MahuWévi boosts profitability (with an ROI of 30%) and aligns with key SDGs by promoting food security, environmental sustainability, and economic opportunities for youth and women in aquaculture.
Unleashing the Power of High-Yielding Orange Maize Across Africa! The new maize variety, born out of agricultural innovation, has been developed to address specific challenges faced in maize cultivation in Africa. Engineered with features such as early maturity, increased resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and adaptation to the African climate, this variety aims to enhance maize yields and production sustainability. By incorporating modern farming practices, it provides a promising solution to improve food security in the region and promote agriculture resilient to environmental changes.
Yellow-fleshed cassava rich in vitamin A Low level of vitamin and mineral in the common varieties of cassava grown by farmers leads to widespread malnutrition and hidden hunger, and numerable desease in the African continent. Therefore, it comes to raise the provitamin A in the conventional cassava throught breeding technics by parking the Golden cassava’s roots with beta-carotenoid for the color caracteristic, these to be convert after ingestion into vitamin A by enzymes as per the need in the body.
NERICA: Higher Yields, Resilience, and Profitability for African Farmers. NERICA varieties mark a pivotal shift in African agriculture. Bred by crossing native landraces with Asian rice, they deliver higher yields and robust resistance to pests and diseases compared to conventional varieties. Their innate resilience to nutrient and water limitations makes them a strategic asset for enhancing farmers' productivity and profitability while reducing reliance on staple food imports. With lowland NERICA tailored for valleys and floodplains with sporadic water stress, and upland NERICA ideal for hilltops and elevated plateaus facing more frequent challenges, this technology is reshaping farming landscapes across Sub-Saharan Africa. It empowers farmers with a reliable, high-yielding resource that not only boosts food security but also drives economic stability in the region.
Transforming Cassava, Mobile Processing for Sustainable Agriculture The Mobile Cassava Processing Plant (MCPP) addresses challenges in cassava commercialization by providing an alternative to immobile processing factories. The MCPP, developed by the TAAT Cassava Compact, is a six-wheel truck with modern processing machinery, an electricity generator, and a loader crane. It facilitates on-site processing of cassava into shelf-stable products, reducing postharvest losses and transportation costs.
Low-cost natural pest control "Biological control of the pod borer Maruca vitrata with exotic parasitoids" is of significant importance in addressing the extensive damage caused by this pest to cowpea crops. By introducing specific parasitic wasps from the World Vegetable Center labs in Taiwan, this approach has led to a remarkable reduction in the Maruca vitrata population, often exceeding 85%, in regions such as Benin and Burkina Faso. The collaboration between national agencies in releasing these parasitoids and their subsequent establishment on wild vegetation before moving to cowpea fields during the cropping season demonstrates the effectiveness of this biological control method. Furthermore, this technology is complemented by the use of resistant or tolerant cowpea varieties and the application of eco-friendly products like neem or other compatible biopesticides. These additional measures not only help combat companion pests like aphids and thrips but also significantly reduce the reliance on chemical pesticides, if not entirely replacing them. In essence, the biological control of the Maruca vitrata pod borer with exotic parasitoids represents a sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to pest management, contributing to higher cowpea yields and food security while minimizing the ecological impact of chemical pesticides.
Reduce milling losses, enhance nutritional and organoleptic quality Parboiling is a process whereby rough rice is steeped in cold or warm water, heated with steam under pressure or in boiling water to gelatinize starch with minimum grain swelling, followed by slow drying. The nutritional, flavor and textural characteristics of parboiled rice are better than non-parboiled counterparts and can match the quality of imported rice making it more appealing to consumers. Traditionally, parboiling is carried out in a cast iron drum with a false bottom for soaking and steaming that is placed on a three-stone fire, which is severely expose processors to air pollution from emissions of carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5). These easy-to-build systems are highly suitable for small to medium scale processors in rice growing areas of Sub-Saharan Africa that have poor energy and market infrastructures.
Wheat cultivation in high temperature regions ICARDA has developed heat and drought-tolerant wheat varieties. These varieties mature in 90 days, resist heat, drought, diseases, and pests, and increase wheat grain harvests. They are tested and adapted to local conditions before release. This innovation benefits farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.