Pathways to wheat self-sufficiency in Africa.

A growing urban population and dietary changes increased wheat import bills in Africa to 9% per year. Though wheat production in the continent has been increasing over the past decades, to varying degrees depending on regions, this has not been commensurate with the rapidly increasing demand for wheat. Analyses of wheat yield gaps show that there is ample opportunity to increase wheat production in Africa through improved genetics and agronomic practices.

Climate and landscape mediate patterns of low lentil productivity in Nepal.

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is a cool-season pulse grown in winter cropping cycle in South Asia and provides a major source of nutrition for many low-income households. Lentil productivity is perceived to be sensitive to high rainfall, but few studies document spatial and temporal patterns of yield variation across climate, soil, and agronomic gradients.

Increasing yield stability and input efficiencies with cost-effective mechanization in Nepal.

Nepal is at a crossroads of diminishing farm-labor and inadequate investment into farming operations that, among other factors, have stagnated domestic wheat yield. Cultural and economic constraints have hindered the widespread adoption of more expensive precision agriculture technologies like zero-till that have the capacity to improve labor and farm input efficiencies. To capture the benefits from added precision of application but with the ability to fit within the current semi-mechanized seed bed preparation and tillage system, we introduced a low-cost, chest mounted seed and fertilizer.