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This project is part of the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative.
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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut is contributing to increased productivity and profitability of peanut production through research on improved peanut varieties and management practices, and to food safety by better post-harvest and processing technologies that can mitigate the negative impacts of contamination of peanut and other crops from toxins produced by soil-borne fungal pathogens (known as mycotoxins).

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man works on machine

Malawi’s Journey to Self-Reliance Benefits US Small Business

The peanut industry is growing in Malawi, giving cash-strapped farmers a sustainable option in their crop rotation and allowing them to move away from dependence on tobacco. Two of the...
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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Oct 28, 2020
Resilience
Senegalese woman shelling peanuts

Biometrics Could Give More Vivid Picture of Women’s Workload

A new research method may give better insight into women's time-poverty and whether household responsibilities leave enough bandwidth to accept new technologies.

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Sep 08, 2020
Agricultural Productivity COVID-19 Gender
Children eat a peanut snack at school.

Peanuts May Offer Nutrition Important to School Success

Working to see how peanuts might provide the protein, minerals, and micronutrients those kids need to thrive.

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Apr 28, 2020
Education and Extension Nutrition Youth
Women stand in a peanut field

Improved Drying, Storage Techniques Make Groundnut Farmers More Resilient

A paper in an upcoming issue of Peanut Science shows that using a tarp to dry peanuts and hermetically sealed bags to store them can increase the crop yield available...

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Apr 28, 2020
Agricultural Productivity Food Safety Markets and Trade Resilience
People on a peanut plot.

Wild Shrub Could Help Peanut Farmers in Senegal

Shrubs that grow wild in West Africa could be key in boosting yield and giving farmers assurance that they can make a profitable crop, even in the drought-prone, food-insecure Sahel...

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Feb 14, 2020
Agricultural Productivity Climate and Natural Resources Resilience
hands holding peanut plants

Peanut Innovation Lab Takes Multi-Pronged Approach to Improve Productivity

An update on the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut including their current accomplishments and future goals.

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Feb 13, 2020
Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Food Safety Gender Nutrition Youth
Bushel of peanuts.

Peanut Risk Tool Helps Farmers in U.S. and around the World

Researchers in North Carolina have updated a risk assessment tool that empowers peanut farmers there to decide when a pest, weed or weather condition threatens yield enough to invest in...

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Feb 12, 2020
Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Resilience
Man with peanuts drying on tarp

Ghanaian Farmers Will Use Post-Harvest Tech … If It’s Free

When Ghanaian groundnut farmers are given tarps for free, they will use them to dry their crops. But, when they have to buy the tarps — even when they are...

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Feb 10, 2020
Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Food Safety Nutrition

RFPs issued to work with Feed the Future Innovation Lab on Peanut Research

This article was originally posted on the University of Georgia CAES website and was written by Allison Floyd. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut Research is calling for...

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Mar 16, 2018
Agricultural Productivity Climate and Natural Resources Food Safety Opportunities
Photo: Extension agent explains work.

Extension Agent Bolsters Farming Knowledge in Malawian Community

Read how one farmer employs her graduate research to function as an agricultural extension agent in her community.

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Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Peanut

Aug 18, 2017
Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Gender Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Markets and Trade Policy and Governance Resilience

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About us
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A rich source of protein and fiber, peanuts or groundnuts are a major part of the diet in much of the world. Working with scientists, students, farmers and private sector players across Africa, the Peanut Innovation Lab is making this major food source plentiful and safe.

Building on work that sequenced the peanut genome in 2019, the lab includes portfolio of variety development projects that are finding the genetic diversity of cultivated peanut in Africa and the U.S. and using wild relatives of peanut to add resistance to disease and climate shocks. This knowledge enables African peanut breeders to integrate desirable traits into improved varieties.

On the farm, researchers are testing solutions directly with growers, from improved varieties to better production practices and post-harvest technologies. Nutrition research is documenting how consuming peanut may improve cognition and the microbiome in a person’s gut. 

In special projects and across the entire portfolio of projects, the innovation lab is working to better understand the roles women and youth play in the peanut value chain, so that these groups are empowered and adapt the technologies that come from research.

Lead Institute
University of Georgia

Focus Countries
Senegal, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda

Principal Investigators
View all of our lead scientists.

Learn More
Visit our website to meet our researchers, watch videos of our work, access the informational materials we have produced and understand the research we are doing.

Stay in touch (link to FB/Twitter)
Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to our Newsletter.

Who We Are
 

Our Researchers

Maria Balota, Associate Professor
Virginia Tech, USA
Lead Scientist for High Throughput Phenotyping

David Bertioli, Professor, GRA Distinguished Investigator
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for New Wild Alleles to Improve Peanut

Rick Brandenburg, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor
North Carolina State University, USA
Lead Scientist for Production Packages for Malawi and Satellite Image Analysis for Peanut

Mark D. Burow
Texas A&M, Texas Tech, USA
Lead Scientist for Breeding for Drought, Leaf Spot, and Oil

Chris Butts
National Peanut Research Lab, USDA, USA
Lead Scientist for PICS Bag Evaluation

Josh Clevenger
Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, USA
Lead Scientist for Mapping GRV Resistance

C. Michael Deom, Professor
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for GRD Alternative Host

Richard P. Dick
The Ohio State Univerity, USA
Lead Scientist for Optimized Shrub System for Peanut

Daniel Fonceka
CERAAS, Senegal
Lead Scientist for Enhancing Genetic Potential in Peanut in Western Africa

Leland Glenna, Professor of rural sociology
Pennsylvania State University, USA
Lead Scientist for Time Poverty Among Ghanaian Women

David Jordan, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Crop Science and Extension Specialist
North Carolina State University, USA
Lead Scientist for Risk Index Tool Update and Production Packages for Ghana

Soraya Leal-Bertioli
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for Novel Diversity to Improve Peanut

Nicholas Magnan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor 
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for Farmer Incentives for Quality Ghanaian Peanuts

Mark Manary, M.D., Professor and Medical Doctor
Washington University, St. Louis, USA
Lead Scientist for Malnutrition Interventions

Venugopal Mendu
Texas Tech University, USA
Lead Scientist for Seed Coat Chemical Makers

Bradford Mills
Department of Ag and Applied Economics
Virginia Tech, USA
Lead Scientist for Youth in Peanut Production in Senegal

David Kalule Okello
NaSARRI, NARO, Uganda
Lead Scientist for Enhancing Genetic Potential in Peanut in Eastern and Southern Africa, Assessment of Breeding Programs, and Implementing a Management System in Peanut Breeding Programs 

Peggy Ozias-Akins, Professor 
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for Genotyping U.S. Germplasm from Africa, and Peanut Gene Evaluation

Carrie Ann Stephens, Professor
University of Tennessee, USA
Lead Scientist for Photovoice in Uganda

Stuart Sweeney, Professor
University of California, USA
Lead Scientist for Gender in Peanut Production in Senegal
 

Jia-Sheng Wang, Professor and Department Head
University of Georgia, USA
Lead Scientist for Gut Microbiome Regulation 

Overseas Partners

Ghana

CSIR-Crop Research Institute (CRI)
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Project Peanut Butter
CSIR-Savanna Agriculture Research Institute (SARI)
University for Development Studies (UDS)
University of Ghana

India
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Kenya
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Malawi
DARS-Chitedze Agriculture Research Service
Horizon Farms, Ltd.
Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR)

Mali
Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER)

Mozambique
Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM)

Niger
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Centre Regional de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger (INRA)

Senegal
Centre de Recherche Pour le Developpement Economique et Social Sanar (CRDESS)
Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Agriculture de Thies (ENSA)]
Institut Senegalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA)
University of Thies

Uganda
Makerere University
National Agriculture Research Organization /National Semi Arid Resources Research Institute (NARO/NaSARRI)

Zambia
Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI)

Work With Us

Program Director: Dave Hoisington
Email: [email protected]

Assistant Director: James Rhoads
Email: [email protected]

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