ACAI Archives - IITA News

Farmers recount the benefits of AKILIMO in cassava production

The outgrower farmers of Psaltry International Limited (PIL) have started experiencing the positive impact of the AKILIMO tools from the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI). Multiple success stories have emerged in relation to the use of the tools. Farmers from Ado Awaye in Iseyin Local Government of Oyo State under the outgrower scheme of Psaltry…

ACAI project: Upscaling cassava agronomy in Africa

IITA has commenced a new phase of the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) project to increase the availability of appropriate and affordable technologies to sustainably improve cassava productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. The 5-year project, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will focus on five countries: DR Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and…

An extension agent conducting yield assesment in a trial plot managed using AKILIMO recommendations.

National agency to integrate AKILIMO tools into national extension package

Nigeria’s National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) is in talks with the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) project to integrate AKILIMO into the government extension package in Nigeria. NAERLS is one of the 18 national agricultural research institutes (NARIs) under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD). NAERLS is responsible for…

Digital extension tools thrill dignitaries at annual national farmers’ exhibition in Tanzania

The digital extension tools and other technologies developed by CGIAR-IITA received wide attention in an exhibition at the recently concluded National Farmers’ Exhibition in Tanzania. IITA and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector showcased innovative technologies at the annual exhibition, which took place in Simiyu region, northern Tanzania, on 1-8 August. The theme of this…

ACAI pretests Farmers’ Field Guide in Nigeria and Tanzania

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) project has placed a high priority on creating materials that will help both partners and end-users to easily understand, use, and apply recommendations from the AKILIMO agronomy advisory tools. One of the materials developed is the AKILIMO farmer’s guide, an image and text illustration outline of the good agronomic…

ACAI partner establishes 492 training plots for scaling AKILIMO

The Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), a primary partner of the Africa Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI), has established and planted 492 validation trial sites for AKILIMO. Also, TFNC set up 46 demonstration sites across the ecological zones covered by ACAI. Planting took place between October 2019 and April 2020 because of the varying ecological…

IITA-ACAI trains Liberian extension workers on weed management and agronomy best practices

As part of efforts to transform the Liberian cassava sector, a team from the IITA-led African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) trained about 70 extension service providers from across Liberia in Bentol, Montserrado County. The training, which took place in October 2019, centered on the IITA-ACAI developed agronomy toolkit known as the Six Steps to Cassava…

Akilimo decision support system for cassava farmers promoted

Akilimo decision support system for cassava farmers in Nigeria and Tanzania

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) has released its first field test version of the Akilimo decision support system in paper and application format. Extension agents will use these to help cassava farmers in Nigeria and Tanzania optimize their productivity and income from growing cassava. The name Akilimo is coined from a combination of two…

ACAI capacity building for partners: Nigeria and Tanzania NARS training on data management

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) has started a series of data management training for staff members from the national agricultural research system (NARS), in the project target countries. The NARS staff from Nigeria and Tanzania are being trained on data collection using the ODK suite tool, data analysis in R, and geospatial information system…

TAAT and ACAI train stakeholders on Good Agronomy Technology Practice

The Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) project in collaboration with the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) conducted a training on Good Agricultural Technologies’ Practices (GATP) and Mechanization for cassava stakeholders in Mkuranga, Eastern Zone Tanzania. The training is part of TAAT’s core objective to empower project stakeholders for efficient and effective deployment of appropriate…