{"id":12802,"date":"2026-06-20T12:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/scientists-and-development-partners-spot-agronomy-as-a-cure-for-cassava-production-issues-in-africa\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:46:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:46:46","slug":"scientists-and-development-partners-spot-agronomy-as-a-cure-for-cassava-production-issues-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/scientists-and-development-partners-spot-agronomy-as-a-cure-for-cassava-production-issues-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists and development partners spot agronomy as a cure for cassava production issues in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\u2026as they prepare a new initiative on cassava agronomy<\/em>\n\nIITA scientists, in collaboration with national partner institutes and development partners, are gathering to define which agronomic practices could narrow the cassava yield gap and how these can be scaled up to many farmers in Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, and Ug anda in a new initiative, African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI). This is planned to commence in 2016. ACAI aims to take cassava to scale in cassava-based systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Upon implementation, ACAI will be driven mainly by implementing partners and focus on the agronomy requirements of cassava fields and integrating best practices for other management objectives.\n\n
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Dr Bernard Vanlauwe (right) talks about the ACAI project to partners.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\nAccording to FAO figures in 2011, Africa produces more cassava than any other crop. More l and is cultivated to the crop but the yields are low, with current estimates ranging between 8 and 15 t\/ha against an achievable yield of more than 30 t\/ha.\n\n\u201cAgronomy includes many things,\u201d Dr Bernard Vanlauwe<\/a>, IITA Director for Central Africa, said during the Cassava Agronomy Stakeholders\u2019 Meeting on 28 April-1 May in Ibadan. \u201cIn this initiative, we are asking development partners that are engaged in cassava value chain activities to tell us which agronomy information they would need to improve their work; that\u2019s what ACAI will work on.\n\nDr Vanlauwe, in one of the first studies to examine the potential of combining inorganic fertilizer and good agronomy practices on cassava fields in DR Congo, found that the combination could give high yields while also allowing farmers to cultivate cassava with other crops, such as nutritious beans and soybean, on the same plot and at the same time.\n\n\u201cThe results from Ug anda and DR Congo show that by training farmers to know the specific needs of the cassava variety on their farm l ands and also to diagnose nutrient requirements properly on their fields, farmers can have much better harvests,\u201d said Dr Vanlauwe.\n\nDr Vanlauwe also explained that ACAI will tackle four key challenges for cassava intensification:\n