The provision of information through mobile phone-enabled agricultural information services (m-Agri services) has the potential to revolutionise agriculture and significantly improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in Africa. Globally, the benefits of m-Agri services include facilitating farmers’ access to financial services and sourcing agricultural information about input use, practices, and market prices. There are very few published literature sources that focus on the potential benefits of m-Agri services in Africa and none of which explore their sustainability. This study, therefore, explores the evolution, provision, and sustainability of these m-Agri services in Africa. An overview of the current landscape of m-Agri services in Africa is provided and this illustrates how varied these services are in design, content, and quality. Key findings from the exploratory literature review reveal that services are highly likely to fail to achieve their intended purpose or be abandoned when implementers ignore the literacy, skills, culture, and demands of the target users. This study recommends that, to enhance the sustainability of m-Agri services, the implementers need to design the services with the users involved, carefully analyse, and understand the target environment, and design for scale and a long-term purpose. While privacy and security of users need to be ensured, the reuse or improvement of existing initiatives should be explored, and projects need to be data-driven and maintained as open source. Thus, the study concludes that policymakers can support the long-term benefit of m-Agri services by ensuring favourable policies for both users and implementers.

Citation for published item:rossinD wd rwr nd ogueD rh tF nd renhrdD viz nd n yudenhovenD elexnder F iF nd shourneD grlEvenne nd wuiruriD ivlyne F nd omzykD eleksndr wF nd qr¡ %EvlorenteD wrin nd rleD hel nd reviD iolet nd edmsD om nd vllliD veil nd he fellD i¢ n nd yeD wrin nd esendeD pernndo @PHIVA 9sdentifying future reserh diretions for iodiversityD eosystem servies nd sustinility X perspetives from erlyEreer reserhersF9D snterntionl journl of sustinle development world eologyFD PS @QAF ppF PRWEPTIF Further information on publisher's website: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. ABSTRACTWe aimed to identify priority research questions in the field of biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainability (BESS), based on a workshop held during the NRG BESS Conference for Early Career Researchers on BESS, and to compare these to existing horizon scanning exercises. This work highlights the need for improved data availability through collaboration and knowledge exchange, which, in turn, can support the integrated valuation and sustainable management of ecosystems in response to global change. In addition, clear connectivity among different research themes in this field further emphasizes the need to consider a wider range of topics simultaneously to ensure the sustainable management of ecosystems for human wellbeing. In contrast to other horizon scanning exercises, our focus was more interdisciplinary and more concerned with the limits of sustainability and dynamic relationships between social and ecological systems. The identified questions could provide a framework for researchers, policy makers, funding agencies and the private sector to advance knowledge in biodiversity and ES research and to develop and implement policies to enable sustainable future development. ARTICLE HISTORY

The genus Prosopis contains 44 species of trees and shrubs, the majority of which originate in the Americas. Most species are reported to be diploid, with a somatic chromosome number of 2n = 28. There are rare reports of polyploidy, although it is thought that these may represent polysomaty in root tissues. However, flow cytometry has recently indicated that P. juliflora is entirely tetraploid with a somatic chromosome number of 2n = 56. In order to clarify the situation, an extensive review of ploidy in Prosopis was undertaken, the first of its kind. The ploidy levels of 124 samples of Prosopis from 21 countries, including both the natural and introduced ranges, were analysed using flow cytometry. In addition, a comprehensive literature review was carried out, examining 305 published ploidy values and covering 32 of the 44 species of Prosopis. Flow cytometry analysis suggests that P. juliflora is the only tetraploid species, with a somatic chromosome number of 2n = 4x = 56, whilst the remainder of the species analysed are diploid with 2n = 2x = 28, including the first report for P. articulata (2n = 28). A critical review of published ploidy values shows that all species of Prosopis are reported to be entirely diploid, except P. glandulosa, P. juliflora, and P. koelziana, for which both diploid and tetraploid values have been recorded.

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Agro-ecological farming approaches sustain food production with zero or reduced dependence on agro-chemicals. This study investigated the impact of public agricultural extension activities in enhancing the transition to agro-ecological approaches, in particular organic farming, in south-eastern Nigeria. Data were collected from thirty farmers and twenty extension personnel using in-depth interviews. The respondents were selected using a purposeful random sampling technique. The results show that extension and advisory activities are influenced by current agricultural policy. Extension personnel currently focus almost exclusively on intensive agricultural practices because of the agricultural transformation agenda which surprisingly ignores the principles of organic farming. Factors such as policy, social, environmental, research and extension management were observed to impede organic farming transition. It is concluded that there is need for a clearly enunciated organic agricultural policy that supports farmers, organic agricultural research and information dissemination. A participatory approach in policy formulation and information dissemination that incorporates farmers' traditional knowledge with capacity to strengthen the agricultural information dissemination structure is recommended to improve agro-ecological transition.