This document reports on preliminary findings from a household survey conducted in Meru County under the auspices of the Innovation for African Climate Risk Insurance (INACRI). The project aims to develop an improved crop insurance index that addresses basis risk inter alia for small scale maize farmers. The goal of the household survey was to assess farmer’s production risks, crop insurance needs and willingness to adopt crop insurance. We also assess farmer’s financial and insurance literacy as a robustness check for their preferences for insurance.

Despite the potential importance of seed quality to agricultural productivity growth, many governments in sub-Saharan Africa lack the capacity to expand quality assurance systems even where there is expressed interest. This study aims to evidence the value of quality assurance systems with an analysis of efforts to produce and distribute certified seed in Nigeria.

The Alliance Bioversity International-CIAT implemented a study in El Salvador, whose goal was to make more transparent the costs and value-added along the coffee value chain, as well as to identify gaps and limitations that cause small and medium-sized farmers to remain in poverty and food insecurity, to make recommendations for policy action to make the value chain more equitable and environmentally sustainable. This brief summarizes the results of this study.

By the mid-century, urban areas are expected to house two-thirds of the world’s population of approximately 10 billion people. The key challenge will be to provide food for all with fewer farmers in rural areas and limited options for expanding cultivated fields in urban areas, with sustainable soil management being a fundamental criterion for achieving sustainability goals. Understanding how nature works in a fast changing world and fostering nature-based agriculture (such as lowinput

This article assesses the opinions of youth tomato growers on the accessibility of agricultural credit and factors that influence the accessibility in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Data originated from a household survey for the 2019/2020 farming season. We interviewed 218 youth tomato growers from 6 horticulture production zones in the South-Kivu, eastern DRC. The result reveals a low rate of 20.6% on accessing agricultural credit among tomato growers. The topmost nature of agricultural credit received was cash-based, mostly from informal sources of finance (92.7%).

Food production faces interlinked challenges with increasing uncertainties from the increasing impacts of climate change and variability. The underlying philosophy of CSA is the development and promotion of an integrative approach that results in landscape management for productive croplands, livestock, forests, and fisheries. It aims for improved food and nutrition security and equitable livelihoods. The program seeks to support the achievement of three outcomes i.e.

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) has been cultivated for over one thousand years in the Liangshan Prefecture of Sichuan, China. Growing population pressures, economic modernization pressures, and the erosion of traditional culture have led to the rapid loss of area covered by Tartary buckwheat landraces. Morphological and molecular characterization of 112 Tartary buckwheat accessions from 29 populations were assessed based on 10 morphological traits of seeds and 10 SSR markers, respectively.

In smallholder farming systems, traditional farmer varieties of neglected and underutilized species (NUS) support the livelihoods of millions of growers and consumers. NUS combine cultural and agronomic value with local adaptation, and transdisciplinary methods are needed to fully evaluate their breeding potential. Here, we assembled and characterized the genetic diversity of a representative collection of 366 Ethiopian teff (Eragrostis tef) farmer varieties and breeding materials, describing their phylogenetic relations and local adaptation on the Ethiopian landscape.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a widespread problem in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Here the population is predominantly reliant plant-based diets. Thus, identification of popular food sources with higher vitamin A contents is a suitable means for addressing VAD. For example, Burundi has a VAD prevalence of 46%. In this region, bananas and plantains are a cheap staple food crop and therefore, offer a good avenue for supplying vitamin A in the diets.

Improving agricultural productivity in Ethiopia is crucial to alleviate poverty and meet growing food demand amid environmental stress and climate change. Agricultural innovation and access to digital agricultural solutions have the potential to boost productivity while reducing negative environmental footprints in agriculture and food system value chains. However, most smallholder farmers in Ethiopia have limited access to digital farming solutions.

Among smallholder maize farmers in Ethiopia (and similar areas in Africa), yield and stress tolerance traits in maize varieties are important. While high yields remain a major objective, breeding and seed system development programs are increasingly based on the recognition that farmers also have an interest in other agronomic and consumption traits. In this paper we illustrate these issues by measuring the trade-offs farmers may be willing to make for specific traits in the mid-altitude maize markets in Ethiopia.

Htee Pu village in the Dry Zone was designated as Climate-Smart Village, where participatory action research was undertaken from 2018 to 2020 to find solutions to climate change's challenges to local farmers' lives and livelihoods. A Dry Zone is typically characterized by a lack of water, thin vegetation cover, and severe soil erosion. Nyaung U Township has the highest temperature in Myanmar's dry zone regions. With support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, the research project was implemented in Myanmar from July 2020 to July 2022.