Sorghum value chain analysis in semi-arid Zimbabwe

Chronic poverty in semi-arid Zimbabwe

Exploiting Nutritional Value of Staple Foods in the World’s Semi-Arid Areas: Risks, Benefits, Challenges and Opportunities of Sorghum

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a drought-resistant crop and an important food resource in terms of nutritional as well as social-economic values, especially in semi-arid environments. Cultivar selection and processing methods have been observed to impact on composition and functional and nutritional value of sorghum. Amino acid imbalance, cyanogenic glycosides, endogenous anti-nutrien...

Trend analysis and detection of precipitation fluctuations in arid and semi-arid regions

The most important impacts of climate change relate to temperature and precipitation. Precipitation is particularly important, because changes in precipitation patterns may lead to floods or droughts in different areas. Also, precipitation is a major factor in agriculture and in recent years interest has increased in learning about precipitation variability for periods of months to annual and s...

Dynamics of Fertilizer Nitrogen Applied to Sweet Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) in the Semi-Arid Tropics

Although sweet sorghum is in focus as a promising multi-purpose crop in semi-arid tropical regions, information on optimum nitrogen (N) management remains rather limited. To determine and understand the N dynamics in sweet sorghum-soil ecosystem, we evaluated the N recovery of applied fertilizer in the Alfisol field during the 2009 and 2010 rainy seasons. Sweet sorghum was grown under six N rat...

Farmer Perceptions on Climate Change and Variability in Semi-arid Zimbabwe in Relation to Climatology Evidence

Farmers in semi-arid Zimbabwe prioritise climate variability as their major agricultural productivity-reducing problem. This paper raises the importance of considering local farmers’ perceptions on climate risk, as this greatly influences on-farm investments and decision-making in agricultural management and production in semiarid Zimbabwe. A study was conducted in two districts of semi-arid Zi...