Focuses on plant health issues in sub-Saharan Africa which are key to improving yieldsReviews ways of improving the health of key African crops such as cassava, maize and grain legumesBrings together leading experts on plant health in sub-Saharan Africa

Assesses developments in genetic resources, genomic information and their application in marker-assisted breeding of cassava;Reviews advances in breeding new varieties with enhanced properties such as higher yield, enhanced nutritional value and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses;Discusses advances in understanding cassava pests and diseases and integrated pest management techniques

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environment-friendly method of pest control that integrates well into area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programmes. This book takes a generic, thematic, comprehensive, and global approach in describing the principles and practice of the SIT. The strengths and weaknesses, and successes and failures, of the SIT are evaluated openly and fairly from a scientific perspective. The SIT is applicable to some major pests of plant-, animal-, and h...

Integrated Pest Management: Current Concepts and Ecological Perspective presents an overview of alternative measures to traditional pest management practices using biological control and biotechnology. The removal of some highly effective broad-spectrum chemicals, caused by concerns over environmental health and public safety, has resulted in the development of alternative, reduced risk crop protection products. These products, less toxic to the environment and easily integrated into biolo...

Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target species, air, water and soil. The extensive reliance on insecticide use reduces biodiversity, contributes to pollinator decline, destroys habitat, and threatens endangered species. This book offers a more effective application of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, on an area-wide (AW) or population-wide (AW-IPM) basis, which aims at the management of ...

A major task of our time is to ensure adequate food supplies for the world's current population (now nearing 7 billion) in a sustainable way while protecting the vital functions and biological diversity of the global environment. The task of providing for a growing population is likely to be even more difficult in view of actual and potential changes in climatic conditions due to global warming, and as the population continues to grow. Current projections suggest that the world's temperatu...

Biological Control: Global Impacts, Challenges and Future Directions of Pest Management provides a historical summary of organisms and main strategies used in biological control, as well as the key challenges confronting biological control in the 21st century.Biological control has been implemented for millennia, initially practised by growers moving beneficial species from one local area to another. Today, biological control has evolved into a formal science that provides...

Major tree crops contribute substantially to the economy of many developing countries on the Asian, African and Latin American continents. For example, coffee is the main revenue earner for Kenya. This book provides a comprehensive review of the agronomy, botany, taxonomy, genetics, chemistry, economics, and future global prospects of a range of crops that have great food, industrial and economic value such as cocoa, coffee, cashew, oil palm and natural rubber. - Discusses the major tree c...

Insects as Sustainable Food Ingredients: Production, Processing and Food Applications describes how insects can be mass produced and incorporated into our food supply at an industrial and cost-effective scale, providing valuable guidance on how to build the insect-based agriculture and the food and biomaterial industry. Editor Aaron Dossey, a pioneer in the processing of insects for human consumption, brings together a team of international experts who effectively summarize the current sta...

Agroforestry is recognized as a sustainable land-use management in the tropics, as it provides environmental-friendly ecosystems; it also provides people with their every day need for food and cash. Since the recognition of agroforestry as a science, curricula have been developed for agroforestry programs for undergraduate and graduate trainings in Universities. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop and make available educational material. This textbook strives to provide up-to-dat...

Plutella xylostella (DBM) is a key pest of crucifers resistant to many insecticides and some crystalendotoxins. Biological control based IPM and classical biocontrol have had varied success. How can it be improved? This book presents key papers and the proceedings of an international symposium held in Montpellier (France) in October 2002. The status of Plutella and control measures used in different areas of the world are discussed, and recommendations for improving bioco...

Discusses the growing importance of cassava as a global crop;Reviews trends and challenges in cassava cultivation in Asia, Africa and Latin America;Summarises current best practice in cassava agronomy, including seed systems, soil and nutrient management, crop rotations and intercropping, and postharvest management