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Africa’s sunflower queen’s big dreams

Africa’s sunflower queen’s big dreams

ROSE NGOY, BIRD IT'S an intoxicating sight - and a rare one in this part of Africa. Gigantic yellow sunflowers seem to almost leap from the verdant green of the fields around them, their faces tilted upwards, gazing at the brightness of a vast morning sky. The five hectares of sunflowers here at the farm that Ange Kanonga runs are both an experiment and another step towards agricultural self-sufficiency in the region. DR Congo's mineral-rich Katanga province has long used its vast mineral wealth to simply import the food it needs, with relatively little investment in agriculture beyond smallholder subsistence…
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Why a new potato variety could be a game-changer for farmers in East Africa

Why a new potato variety could be a game-changer for farmers in East Africa

IMAGINE being a potato farmer in Ethiopia, Kenya or Nigeria. On a small piece of land, which you depend on for food and income, you have spent months planting, weeding and watering. Up to twice a week, you manually spray your field, sometimes with limited equipment, or hire someone to do it, spending much of your income on fungicides to avoid crop diseases. TADESSA DABA, Director, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Directorate, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research And yet within a week of cold and humid weather, your entire field has been destroyed by late blight, a disease that wipes out a…
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