icipe

The number of Ethiopian farmers using modern beekeeping technologies introduced by the International Centre of Insect Physiology (icipe), has increased eight-fold over the past seven years, from just 120 in 2011 to 900 by end of 2017. Significantly, more than one third of these farmers are women, in a country where beekeeping is traditionally considered a male-only occupation.

Root-knot nematodes, a highly destructive group of soil dwelling worms that infect most, if not all cultivated crops, are probably one of the greatest threats to agriculture in SSA. Therefore, for the region’s food security goals to be achieved, these pests, alongside other nematode species, must be wholly integrated into efforts to improve agricultural productivity. Encouragingly, slow but steady progress made over the past 20 years indicates an optimistic outlook for an otherwise daunting endeavour.