- African Cassava Agronomy Initiative
AKILIMO Updates
22 June 2020
The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) project scientists are working on optimizing crop models to improve the prediction of the AKILIMO decision support tools. The team is evaluating the performance of the Light Interception and Utilization (LINTUL) and Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) to predict the attainable yield of cassava under well managed agronomic field trial.
22 June 2020
Four state governments in the south of Nigeria have allowed the African Cassava Agronomy Project (ACAI) project and its partner Sasakawa Africa Association (SG2000) to set up cassava demonstration and training plots for the AKILIMO decision support tools at all their zonal skill development locations.
15 June 2020
The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) in a joint effort with ARIFU
has ensured the continuation of training farmers in Tanzania during the
coronavirus pandemic. Despite the semi lockdown and other measures out in place by health agencies to infections and spreading of the corona virus. ACAI and ARIFU have been carrying out virtual trainings with extension agents and farmers through teleconference phone calls.
15 June 2020
Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) one of the ACAI primary partners has established and planted 492 validation trial sites for AKILIMO and additional 46 demonstration sites across the ecological zones where ACAI is operating in Tanzania.
28 May 2020
Extension agents working under the Justice Development and Peace Movement (JDPM), Oyo and the University of Agriculture Makurdi have concluded plans to resume training activities previously halted by the COVID-19 lockdown across the country under a cautious regime. The training activities will adhere strictly to the rules on physical distancing set by the country on COVID 19, coordinators from JPDM and UAM have said.
28 May 2020
Kolping Society of Nigeria is the new addition to the ACAI project list of partners that will be instrumental in scaling the use of the AKILIMO decision support tools. Kolping Society of Nigeria is a faith-based organization that promotes social action for human development. The organization will integrate AKILIMO tools content as part of their training materials for farmers growing cassava within their membership location.
28 May 2020
A collaboration between ACAI partners and the local government authorities in Tanzania has ensured a continuation of stakeholder trainings and farmer sensitization during the coronavirus pandemic. Kilimo Joint a capacity building and agricultural consulting enterprise and eSOKO an agricultural digital solutions company and an ACAI primary partner have teamed with government officials of Mkuranga District in the Eastern Zone of Tanzania to conduct training for selected new project partners and farmers on the use of fertilizer in growing cassava as recommended by the AKILIMO decision support tools.
16 May 2020
ACAI project is partnering with eSOKO, a digital solutions company operating in the agricultural sector, to collect data on cassava farmers in Tanzania and profile them in order to develop and provide them with tailored information. eSOKO is an agricultural profiling and messaging service provider that empower rural populations and the organizations that work with them through information dissemination across sub-Saharan Africa.
15 May 2020
African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) has started interacting with partners and farmers virtually in Tanzania because of covid-19. The project has taken steps to minimize the exposure to infection for both staff, partners and farmers. This is in respect to the guidelines by health officials in the country to avoid unnecessary contact and to keep a safe distance.
15 May 2020
One of the ACAI project primary partners, Oyo State Cassava Growers Association (OYSCGA), has been forced to change their operational procedures to keep farm activities going […]
15 May 2020
The Digital Extension & Advisory Services Specialist, Godwin Atser has been appointed by the Oyo State government as a member of the Oyo State COVID-19 Food […]
12 May 2020
As part of its monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) system, the ACAI project has developed and piloted a survey tool called “use and uptake” tool. This […]
12 May 2020
Two ACAI project partners in Tanzania, YARA Fertilizers and Kilimo Joint have struck a collaboration that will see them engage secondary partners to scale and disseminate AKILIMO agronomy advice tools in the country.
The partnership has been developed after months of discussion between representatives of the institutions and ACAI team consisting of Fredrick Baijukya, ACAI project coordinator for Tanzania and Thompson Ogunsanmi, the project scaling specialist.
12 May 2020
Psaltry International Limited (PIL) commences reviewing its operational plans to in order to integrate the use of AKILIMO agronomy advice tools. PIL, a primary partner in the ACAI project has been part of the AKILIMO research and development process since the inception of the project in 2016.
12 May 2020
Nigerian Spray Service Providers (SSPs), most of whom are cassava farmers themselves, cannot stop basking in excitement over the new knowledge they are getting from the […]
30 April 2020
When we started to implement the African Cassava Agronomy Initiative project plans for 2020, together with our partners we were very optimistic of the outcomes to be achieved in the course of the year. We believed that 2020 will be the crowning year for ACAI. For the past four years, ACAI has carried out research and developed agronomic recommendation tools. We proudly called it AKILIMO, ready to supply advice to cassava growers in Nigeria and Tanzania.
30 April 2020
AKILIMO offers a suite of decision support tools to provide advice on different aspects of cassava cultivation, identified by cassava value chain actors as the most important agronomic gaps to be filled to improve production and productivity of cassava.
30 April 2020
ACAI project continues to increase its partnerships as part of the steps taken to expand and strengthen the scaling and dissemination of AKILIMO tools. In March, several partners from different segments of the cassava value chain in Tanzania joined the project after a series of discussions and agreements through memoranda of understanding with ACAI.
20 April 2020
The Department of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES) under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria will partner with ACAI project to disseminate and use the AKILIMO recommendations for agronomy advice given to farmers by extension agents allied to the government.
17 March 2020
ACAI project uses capacity building activities for the project partners as part of the scaling strategy for the AKILIMO tools to reach a wider audience within the cassava growing areas.
26 August 2021
The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) that is under the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has continued to disseminate AKILIMO technologies to cassava growers in Kibaha district so that to promote cassava cultivation and increase farmers’ incomes.
19 August 2021
The Ogun State Agro Inputs Dealers Association (OGSAIDA) at her maiden Quarterly Assembly held on the 17th of July, 2021 at Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Federal Secretariat Abeokuta, Ogun State.
3 August 2021
To ensure more women participate fully in AKILIMO dissemination events, The ACAI team called on women from regions of Mtwara, Tanga, Mara, and Mwanza at their locations to discuss together the challenges they face that seemed like the main reason for their low participation. ACAI organized these meetings in May 2021, to assess why women’s participation is so low compared to men to improve gender integration on use, uptake, and sustainability of AKILIMO.
29 July 2021
The stakeholders 2-days workshop organized by African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) held in Lagos came to an end on Thursday, July 2021 with several stakeholders in attendance such as the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), National Root Crop Research Institute (NRCRI), Sasakawa African Association (SG2000), Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Notore Chemical Industries, Centre for Inclusive Agriculture & Gender Development (CIA-GED), Cedro Royal Limited, National Agriculture and Extension Liaison Services (NAERLS), and other key stakeholders in the agriculture sector have called for the adoption of ‘AKILIMO’, smart agriculture, to boost cassava production in Nigeria.