Judicious soil fertility management is crucial for sustainable crop production and food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This book describes the various concepts and approaches underlying soil and soil fertility management research in SSA over the last fifty years. It provides examples of important innovations generated and assesses the position of research within the research-to-development continuum, including how innovations have been validated with the intended beneficiaries. Using the experience of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as a case study, the authors analyse how processes, partnerships and other factors have affected research priorities, the delivery of outputs, and their uptake by farming communities in SSA. They evaluate both successes and failures of past investments in soil fertility research and important lessons learnt which provide crucial information for national and international scientists currently engaged in this research area. The book is organised in a number of chapters each covering a chronological period characterised by its primary research content and approaches and by the dominant research paradigms and delivery models.

Judicious soil fertility management is crucial for sustainable crop production and food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This book describes the various concepts and approaches underlying soil and soil fertility management research in SSA over the last fifty years. It provides examples of important innovations generated and assesses the position of research within the research-to-development continuum, including how innovations have been validated with the intended beneficiaries. Using the experience of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as a case study, the authors analyse how processes, partnerships and other factors have affected research priorities, the delivery of outputs, and their uptake by farming communities in SSA. They evaluate both successes and failures of past investments in soil fertility research and important lessons learnt which provide crucial information for national and international scientists currently engaged in this research area. The book is organised in a number of chapters each covering a chronological period characterised by its primary research content and approaches and by the dominant research paradigms and delivery models.

Covering all aspects of practical plant nematology in subtropical and tropical agriculture, the third edition of this definitive global reference work is fully revised and in full colour throughout. It covers the presence, distribution, symptomology and management of all economically important plant parasitic nematodes damaging the world's major food and cash crops. This includes: rice, cereals, solanum and sweet potatoes (and other root and tuber crops), food legumes, vegetables, peanut, citrus, fruit tree crops, coconut and other palms, coffee, cocoa, tea, bananas, sugarcane, tobacco, pineapple, cotton, other tropical fibres, spices and medicinal plants. New content for this edition includes: - A chapter on nematode soil biodiversity and soil health. - Reflections on the future impact of nematodes and nematology on food security. - The importance of climate change, emerging threats, and new management technologies for large and small subsistence growers. - Significant revisions to the IPM chapter and chapters on vegetables, citrus, legumes, tuber crops, cotton, peanut and banana where major advances in nematode management have occurred. This book is highly illustrated, with up-to-date practical guidance on methods of extraction, processing and diagnosing of different plant and soil nematodes and on integrated pest management. It remains an invaluable resource for those studying and working in the area of crop protection.

This book provides up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of the research and application of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in tropical regions. The first section explores the agro-ecological framework that represents the foundations of IPM, in addition to emerging technologies in chemical and biological methods that are core to pest control in tropical crops. The second section follows a crop-based approach and provides details of current IPM applications in the main tropical food crops (such as cereals, legumes, root and tuber crops, sugarcane, vegetables, banana and plantain, citrus, oil palm, tea, cocoa and coffee) and also fibre crops (such as cotton) and tropical forests. Integrated Pest Management in Tropical Regions: * Explores the techniques aimed at controlling pests in agro-ecosystems sustainably while reducing secondary effects on the environment and on plant, animal and human health * Contextualizes IPM within our current knowledge of climate change and the global movement of organisms * Covers integrated strategies to contains pests in major tropical food crops, fibre crops and trees * Discusses options and challenges for pest control in tropical agriculture