ACAI Archives - Page 2 of 3

Yara Tanzania to partner with ACAI on dissemination of agronomy advice tools

Yara Tanzania, a subsidiary of the global fertilizer conglomerate Yara International ASA, has agreed to partner with the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) in the dissemination of its cassava agronomy decision support tools (DSTs). ACAI has been doing research to develop a suite of agronomy advice tools to help improve cassava intensification, productivity, and production…

Nigerian farmers get free advisory services on cassava production via mobile phone

Nigerian farmers can now access extension and advisory services related to weed control, best planting practices, and other aspects of cassava production on their cell phones free of charge, thanks to the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI). The mobile telephony service is powered by Airtel using the 3-2-1 Service of Viamo. Farmers with Airtel sim…

Akilimo Dashboard: ACAI develops data management system for field activities and validation of agronomy advice tools

ACAI has developed a dashboard that will be used to curate project activity data and provide a real-time summary of results from field activities as entered by extension agents. The Akilimo Dashboard is a suite of code in R language combined with the Open Data Kit (ODK) data collection tools to form a data processing…

ACAI combines machine learning, field trial data, and crop models to optimize fertilizer recommendations

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) site-specific fertilizer recommendation (FR) tool is built to provide optimized and economically beneficial recommendations to cassava growers. The tool considers local soil data, weather conditions, prices of available fertilizers and cassava root produce, planting and harvest dates, and the investment capacity of the farmer. ACAI has been conducting nutrient…

Cassava farmers in Tanzania to benefit from new industry partnership with ACAI project

At a recent meeting in Tanzania, IITA, through the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) and the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI-Naliendele) agreed to explore areas of collaboration with the Cassava Starch Tanzania Corporation (CSTC). Demand for cassava is increasing as more companies are seeking to process the roots into high-value, starch-rich flour. New processing capacity…

ACAI and Cassava Weed Management Project merge

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) project and the IITA Cassava Weed Management Project (IITA-CWMP) have become a single project. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funds both projects under its Agricultural Development program. The ACAI project has been carrying out research to develop tools that will increase the availability of appropriate and affordable technologies…

Picture of two women discussing ACAI ID card

ACAI introduces ID cards for extension agents and cassava growers

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) has introduced identity cards for cassava growers and extension agents (EA) involved in the project activities.

Picture of Farmer visits peer’s farm to view ACAI trials at Kisamwene Village in Butiama, Mwanza Tanzania.

Tanzania Ministry of Agriculture lauds ACAI activities

African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) will play a key role in addressing problems facing cassava farming in Tanzania to help the country meet the growing demand for cassava.

Picture of Dr Abdulai Jallo, ACAI project coordinator, and Mr James Watiti of CABI in a discussion during the ACAI inhouse planning meeting in Zanzibar.

ACAI sets pace for 2018

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) team met on 21-22 June in Zanzibar to review the second season results and plan for the project’s third season activities that will be undertaken during the 2017-2018 season in Tanzania.

Picture of a ACAI training of classroom session

ACAI field staff trained on simplified data collection tools and management for field activities in Tanzania

The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) project has trained its staff and partners on agronomy database management and the barcode labeling system. The training was necessary due to the increased number of field trials the project is conducting in the country, and which in turn has created the need to clearly label and identify each attribute being studied.