African Journal of Rural Development

Fostering Rural Transformation in Africa through research generated solutions

Adipala Ekwamu — 2025-10-15

Research is fundamental for generating technical innovations, practices and information to guide planning and for lesson learning. This Issue of the African Journal of Rural Development, Volume 10 (2), presents nine research papers covering aspects on multistakeholder engagement for technology uptake, use of AI generated solutions for plant disease management, status of post-harvest handling in rural areas of Uganda, enhancing agricultural productivity through greenhouse farming, promoting growing of underutilized legumes for enhancing food and nutrition security and management of urban waste. The papers cover important issues that need attention for improving agricultural productivity and wellbeing amongst rural and urban dwellers and of the need to develop circular economies. AFJRD calls for increased investment to support building Africa’s science capacity to generate solutions for improving productivity and sustainable agricultural practices for strengthening agrifood systems. In these endeavors, attention need to be placed on multi-actor partnerships in addressing research issues and emerging opportunities.

Keywords: Africa, Aflatoxins, AI solutions, groundnut rosette disease, multi-actor partnerships, research for development, underutilized legumes

none Technology and Service Bundling and Bundle Performance among Maize Farmers in Eastern DR Congo

Bacigale, S.B — 2025-09-24

Approaches to the bundling of production inputs and accompanying farmer services continues to attract attention as an agricultural development tool. A package of modernizing production inputs consisting of improved and hybrid maize seed and preplant (DAP) and top-dressed (urea) fertilizers targeting 0.25 ha each was assembled and distributed to 2340 small-scale farmers in the Ruzizi Plain and adjacent highlands. Those packages cost about US $138,060 to assemble and distribute (at $59 each). These farmers were also linked to additional services including training on Good Agricultural Practice, access to field and post-harvest support, and the marketing of production surpluses. In total, package installation resulted in 2,661 MT of maize, equivalent to 4.6 MT per ha and worth about US $997,718 (at $375 per MT). This resulted in an average 111% yield improvement over farmer practice across all packages. Hybrid maize outperformed a biofortified OPV with WSC Haraka producing 5.5 ± 0.5 MT per ha. Taking into account what the farmers would have otherwise produced using their current practice providing 2.1 MT per ha, a benefit-to cost ratio of 4.2:1 was realized, but does not include farmers’ labor and local delivery costs. Services assisted farmers in treating fields attacked by Fall Armyworm and to mechanically shell their maize harvest, the latter allowing for collective marketing of surpluses. These findings were linked to a desk study on the design and assessment of more complete technology and service bundles as they relate to agricultural transformation in DR Congo.

A The Role of Multi-Actor Engagement in Improving Market Access for Lead actors- A Case of Pineapple Value Chain in Uganda

damalie babirye — 2025-09-24

In Uganda, the Participatory Market Chain Approach, an innovative methodology was used to enhance collaboration among market actors to improve the competitiveness of the pineapple sub-sector. Due to limited evidence on how the multi-stakeholder interactions support actors to access markets, this study used the Innovation Systems Function Framework to analyze how the functions and activities of platform actors enhanced the visibility of the pineapple innovations. The study employed a qualitative approach involving focus groups discussions with 75 pineapple farmers and 44 key informant interviews with pineapple chain actors. Eleven respondents from the public and private sectors who participated in the participatory market chain approach process were also interviewed. The findings show that functions of entrepreneurial activities, knowledge exchange and development, knowledge dissemination and diffusion, guidance of search, market formation, and resource mobilization contributed greatly to enhance market access for pineapple innovations. Collaborative engagement is therefore important to obtain knowledge about user behavior and preferences for integration into the product development process.

A Portable Plant Physiological Feature Image Processing Technique for Groundnuts Rosette Disease Diagnosis

Stephen Ssenkooto — 2025-09-24

Groundnut is one of the five most important oilseeds produced in the world. Compared to other major staple crops, groundnuts have received relatively little research worldwide, particularly in less developed countries where it is critical for food security and livelihoods. This crop is susceptible to many diseases, causing decline in productivity and quality, all of which affects agricultural economy. Traditional detection methods by farmers and researchers are time consuming, costly and less accurate necessitating a better and more reliable automatic solution for detecting groundnut foliar leaf diseases. Five major foliar diseases of groundnuts include groundnut rosette, early and late leaf spots, Bacterial wilt and rust. This model was trained with and without stepwise resizing and simultaneously validated using cross-entropy loss. The dataset used for training and validation purposes was manually created. To evaluate the performance of our model, various performance metrics such as accuracy, sensitivity, F1 score, and precision were applied achieving a perfect precision value of 100% at high confidence threshold of 0.964 and F1-score of 0.8 at high confidence threshold of 0.454 demonstrating the model's balanced effectiveness in identifying ground rosette disease. The Groundnuts Rosette Disease Diagnosis Using Plant Physiological Feature Image Processing Technique model achieved reliable accuracy with a limited dataset of 9 groundnut rosette scale rates.

The Status of Postharvest Handling among Smallholder Farmers in Eastern Uganda

Jenifer Apil — 2025-09-24

Postharvest - losses remain the major constraint to food, nutrition and income security among majority of the households in Sub-Saharan Africa. Studies indicate that appropriate use of improved postharvest handling recommended practices and technologies provide vast opportunities to reduce postharvest losses and improve food safety. However, the status of postharvest handling among agricultural households in Eastern Uganda is unknown. We explored postharvest handling practices and technologies used for maize and cassava among smallholder farmer households in the districts of Pallisa, Kamuli, and Buyende. Data were collected using 36 Focus Group discussions, 285 household interviews and subjected to content analysis and descriptive statistics. Results suggest that majority of agricultural households engage in various postharvest handling activities like transportation, drying, shelling, chipping, storage, and milling. However, most household’s use the rudimentary technologies at different stages of handling stimulating postharvest loses consequently leading to food, nutrition and income insecurity. The study recommends that high priority should be placed on accessibility and cost friendly simple technologies that suit agricultural households with multiple social-economic characteristics.

Key words: Postharvest handling, losses, technologies, smallholder farmers

Multi-stakeholder approaches to food security and adaptive governance for sustainable agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa

KPOVIESSI, A. D. — 2025-09-24

In Africa, the great challenge posed by climate change, population growth, and economic instability to food and agricultural sustainability represent a complex landscape which necessitates a multi-stakeholder approach and adaptive governance strategies in order to set up a sustainable and resilient food system. To direct attention to this problem, this paper examines systematically the common point of economic development, plant breeding, policy practices and agricultural reinvestment. The agricultural landscape is modified by the climate change effect, requiring advanced plant breeding techniques to create crop varieties capable of resisting or be resilient to extreme weather events, pests and diseases. These efforts are pivotal for preserving and improving food security in Africa. Simultaneously, there is an urgent demand to grow African economies and at the same time assure food availability and accessibility for African fast growing population. However, economic trends, best practices and future policies are crucial to adapt the future of African agriculture. The reinforcement of current policies and by increasing the reinvestment in the agricultural sector, African countries can create good environments for food security and sustainable economic growth. This requires multiple stakeholders like government agencies, research institutions, private sector entities and local communities. Importantly, adaptive governance structures are essential for addressing African agriculture dynamic challenges. The governance structures must be flexible enough to satisfy the market fluctuations, respond to the changing climatic conditions and technological advancements while remaining rooted in the local contexts and traditional knowledge.

Optimizing Deep Learning Models for Aflatoxin Detection in Agricultural Products: A Case Study of Groundnuts.

Lillian Tamale — 2025-09-24

This study presents an automated deep learning-based classification model for aflatoxin detection in groundnuts, addressing the limitations of conventional manual inspection methods, which are often time-intensive and error-prone. Leveraging the Inception-ResNet-V2 deep learning architecture, the model classifies groundnuts into four distinct categories: healthy, moldy, pest-infested, and those exhibiting physiological disorders. A comprehensive dataset comprising 226 healthy, 236 moldy, 191 pest-infested, and 160 physiological disorder samples was utilized for training, validation, and testing. Model performance was evaluated using multiple metrics, including accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). The proposed model achieved an overall accuracy of 99.29%, with precision and recall values of 100% and 98.44%, respectively. Notably, the moldy category exhibited an AUC of 1.00, underscoring the model’s exceptional capability in distinguishing visual patterns and automating classification tasks. Despite these good results, the study highlights the need for future research to incorporate a broader range of agricultural products to enhance model generalizability. The deep learning model developed improves aflatoxin detection, reducing reliance on subjective manual inspections and enhancing food safety practices. This research offers a novel AI-driven solutions in agricultural quality assessment and food safety management.

The Urban Greenhouse Establishment Strategies for the Cultivation of Vegetables

Rahiel Hagos Abraha — 2025-09-24

The increasing trend of the global population and urbanization requires a parallel increase in agricultural production. Increased urbanization particularly demands for increased food supply, especially fruits and vegetables. Urban greenhouse establishments present a promising strategy for addressing food security and sustainability in metropolitan areas. This review explores various methodologies and best practices for setting up and managing urban greenhouses dedicated to vegetable cultivation. Establishment of greenhouses requires strategic approaches, including site selection, structural design, micro-climate control systems, and sustainable practices. Optimal site selection considers proximity to consumers, accessibility, and integration with existing urban infrastructures. With systematic intervention, structural design maximizes space efficiency and ensures adequate light and ventilation. Meanwhile, advanced micro-climate control systems, such as automated temperature, humidity, and CO₂ regulation, are essential for year-round production of vegetables. Emphasis on sustainable practices, including Integrated Pest Management (IPM), water conservation through hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics systems, renewable energy utilization, and waste management, is crucial. Case studies from diverse urban settings demonstrate the successful application of these practices, highlighting benefits such as reduced food miles, enhanced food and nutrition security, and positive environmental impacts. This review paper also suggests policy recommendations to support urban greenhouse initiatives, advocating for public-private partnerships, funding mechanisms, and regulatory frameworks to facilitate the adoption of urban greenhouses for vegetable production.

The Promoting Underutilized Legumes for Food Security to Small-Scale Farming Communities: Evidence from Developing Countries and Genetic Diversity Perspectives

Rahiel Hagos Abraha — 2025-09-24

Food security remains a critical challenge in many developing countries, where small-scale farming communities rely heavily on staple crops with limited nutritional diversity. Promoting underutilized legumes (ULs) presents a viable strategy to enhance food security and resilience among these communities. Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America demonstrates that these crops improve soil fertility, increase crop yields, and enhance household nutrition and income. Information was collected over 114 peer-review articles and websites contributing to small-scale farming communities in food security, health and resilience from both agronomic and genetic diversity perspectives. By reviewing case studies from various developing countries, the paper highlights the nutritional benefits, adaptability to diverse agro-ecological zones, and the role of ULs genetic diversity in enhancing crop resilience and yield stability. The evidence suggests that integrating ULs into small-scale farming systems can diversify diets, improve soil health and provide a buffer against climatic and economic shocks. Furthermore, the conservation and utilization of genetic diversity within these legumes germplasms is crucial for breeding programs aimed at improving crop traits such as drought tolerance, disease resistance, and nutritional quality. However, research gaps such as lack of awareness, limited market access, and seed availability hinder their widespread adoption. Policy recommendations include supporting local seed systems, investing in agricultural research, and fostering community-based approaches to promote the adoption of underutilized legumes. This approach will not only strengthen food security but also enhance the sustainability and resilience of small-scale farming communities in developing countries.

ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF MUNICIPAL FOOD WASTE ON FOOD SECURITY: A REVIEW

BOMA VICTOR IRISO — 2025-09-24

Municipal food waste has emerged as a significant economic and environmental challenge globally. Millions of tons of edible foods are discarded yearly, contributing to a substantial waste problem that exacerbates greenhouse gas emissions and strains municipal waste systems. The rapid growth of the population in urban cities intensifies pressure on food systems, leading to significant food losses at various points in the supply chain, ranging from production to consumption. The study examined these issues using desk-based and comparative methodologies gathering data from policymakers, food producers, retailers, consumers, and Non-Governmental Organisations reports. Data revealed that perishability, low consumer awareness, weak policy frameworks, poor storage, and processing infrastructure as key barriers. Overcoming these challenges will require coordinated efforts from both the public and private sectors, focusing on consumer education, infrastructure investments, and policy reforms to reduce or eliminate food waste to enhance food security and economic boost in urban cities across the African continent. Health, economic and environmental benefits could be derived from reducing municipal waste. Hence, all stakeholders in the food value chain should take the necessary steps to implement these actions to achieve sustainable food production and consumption in African urban cities.